T&T faces greatest risk in region for disaster from oil spill at fifth project– Exxon study

Jan 22, 2023 News

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Kaieteur News – Trinidad and Tobago, notably the Region’s oldest oil and gas producer, has been eager to leverage its expertise to cash in on Guyana’s multibillion-dollar oil sector. But is it aware of the potential dangers the country’s oil projects spell for its fishing and tourism industries?

Putting this into perspective is ExxonMobil Corporation’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for its fifth development at the Uaru-Mako field in the Stabroek Block.

Over a 20-year period, Exxon is hoping, with the blessings of Guyanese Authorities, to produce 1.3 billion barrels of oil. Exxon’s EIA which was prepared by Acorn International noted that if there is an unmitigated spill of these resources, several nations are at risk for devastation. They include Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Martinique, Barbados, Dominica, Guadeloupe and Trinidad and Tobago. The Dominican Republic and Haiti are also at risk too.

Of the aforementioned nations, Exxon’s EIA states that Trinidad and Tobago is the most vulnerable to the greatest impacts, owing to its location and proximity to the project area. In fact, the EIA states that “Trinidad and Tobago would have the highest potential to be affected by the trans-boundary impacts of an unmitigated loss-of-well-control event, regardless of the season.” It goes on to state that the probability of oiling at least a portion of the coast of Trinidad and Tobago and/or its coastal waters is as high as 100 percent.

Sensitive coastal resources that could be affected for Trinidad include mangroves, manatee habitat, marine turtle nesting beaches, and forest reserves. In Tobago, it includes numerous marine turtle nesting beaches and coral reefs, as well as several large seagrass meadows in the south near the Mount Pleasant area. The EIA also states that the northern and southern coasts also have a high probability of shoreline oiling.

Significantly, the time of predicted arrival of an unmitigated spill at its shoreline ranges from five to 35 days.

The EIA also states that numerous fishing areas are located east of Trinidad and could be impacted by a large unmitigated subsea release of crude oil. It states, “Spills that remain offshore and only affect the industrial fleet would have a greater proportional impact on high-value fisheries and on the export markets, while spills that reach inshore areas would impact both the inshore and offshore fleets and would impact exports as well as domestic fish supplies.”

Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said it remains in discussion with ExxonMobil Corporation for a parent guarantee to cover all costs associated with an unmitigated oil spill. Talks are progressing on a potential US$2B. Industry stakeholders have said that this is tantamount to a drop in the bucket, considering that oil spill cleanup costs in some territories have been in the range of US$65B.

Kaieteur News in its January 9, 2023 edition under the headline, ‘Likely oil spill from Exxon’s fifth project can have far-reaching impacts on Caribbean states – new EIA reveals’ noted that the study warns that an oil spill from the project can have far-reaching impacts on Guyana’s sister Caribbean states.

According to the EIA, an unmitigated oil spill from either of the loss-of-well-control events during the December through May season would take a west-north-westernly route through the Gulf of Paria and across the southern edge of the Caribbean Sea.

Meanwhile, strong winds between December and May can affect the ABC Islands, and the southern Lesser Antilles would have the most exposure to oiling.

“An equivalent spill during the June through November season would track slightly more to the north, away from the western Venezuelan Coast and further north in the western Atlantic toward the central and southern portions of the Lesser Antilles. This plume would cross the Caribbean Sea, and eventually continue toward the Greater Antilles. Mitigated oil spills from each of the two loss-of-well-control scenarios would only have the potential to reach Trinidad and Tobago and would reduce the extent of shoreline oiling associated with spills under both scenarios relative to the corresponding unmitigated spill,” the EIA notes.

That report warned that this is especially alarming for the nation, as the oil company as well as the government of Guyana remain silent on full liability coverage in the event of a spill.

“This is a guarantee, usually in the form of a signed letter, that the parent company- in this case ExxonMobil- would cover all costs associated with the spill that its operator- EEPGL, a limited liability company- cannot cover”, the article said.

Instead of this level of protection, the Guyana Government has accepted US$600 million coverage per oil spill disaster that is currently being held by the operator. In addition, it was reported that negotiations are ongoing for a US$2.5 billion parent company guarantee.

Experts have warned that this meagre amount is unacceptable, given the dangers associated with the offshore activities.

In the meantime, the Government is currently reviewing project documents for the Uaru-Mako development, set to cost GY$2.6 Trillion (US$12B).

A preliminary schedule anticipates that FPSO and other fabrication and installation works will begin in 2024 following the completion of engineering and will take approximately three years. Development well drilling may also occur during this period. Production operations are expected to begin in 2027 and will continue for at least 20 years.

With respect to the FPSO, Exxon’s Environmental Impact Assessment states that oil production will average at 250,000 to 263,000 barrels of oil per day. It was keen to note that peak rates may be higher during the lifetime of the project, depending on multiple factors such as reservoir pressure, number of wells, equipment reliability etc.

It was also noted that the project will be producing 540 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

Importantly, telecommunications equipment will also be installed on the FPSO to enable the safe operation of the facilities in normal and emergency conditions. Kaieteur News understands that this equipment will allow communication with the offices, shore bases, support vessels, helicopters, and tankers, as well as communication within the FPSO.

EEPGL had previously installed the Fibre Optic Cable Project, which provides the fibre optic communication infrastructure from the Stabroek Block to shore, enabling high-speed, low-latency communications and data transfer between EEPGL’s FPSOs and shore.

The Fibre Optic Cable Project included the installation of two optical distribution units (ODUs), two main fibre optic trunk lines to shore, and fibre optic cables routed from the Destiny, Unity, Prosperity, and One Guyana FPSOs to the ODUs.

EEPGL plans to connect this Project’s FPSO into the existing fibre optic infrastructure back to shore, which will consist of two fibre optic cables connected from a Uaru subsea drill centre back to the existing two ODUs. From the Uaru subsea drill centre, the fibre optic cable will connect to the Uaru FPSO via one of the dynamic umbilicals, which will contain fibre strands.

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• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), ExxonMobil Corporation, Stabroek Block, Trinidad and Tobago, Uaru-Mako

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