Latest update July 21st, 2026 1:09 AM
14 Caribbean islands could be impacted by oil spill from 35-well drilling campaign – ExxonMobil study
Kaieteur News – An oil spill that occurs during the 35 well drilling campaign in the Stabroek Block by ExxonMobil could impact as many as 14 Caribbean islands.
This is according to the Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) submitted by the operator, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) to Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This study will determine if a Permit will be granted to facilitate the new operations offshore.
According to the study, which was completed by Exxon’s Consultant, Environmental Resources Management (ERM), oil spill modelling indicates that transboundary impacts could potentially occur if no mitigation measures are implemented.
Notably, the modelling results showed that an unmitigated oil spill can reach Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Martinique, and Barbados as well as Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica.
The document explained, “An unmitigated oil spill from either of the loss-of-well-control events during both modelled seasons is expected to travel in a west-north-westerly route through the Gulf of Paria and the southern and eastern coasts of Trinidad and Tobago. This scenario would expose the northern coast of South America and the southern Lesser Antilles to the bulk of the exposure to oiling.”
Map depicting the predicted transport after 45 days from an unmitigated 177,157 barrels per day spill at the Haimara wellhead in the Stabroek Block (Source EEPGL CIA)
Meanwhile, mitigated oil spills from each of the two loss-of-well-control scenarios would only have the potential to reach Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago and would reduce the extent of shoreline oiling.
It must be noted that the study went into detail highlighting measures that will be taken to mitigate an oil spill. These include coordinating operations and communications between different command posts; creating a transboundary workgroup to manage waste from a product release; identifying places of refuge in the impacted region where response vessels could go for repairs and assistance; determining how EEPGL and the impacted regional stakeholders can work together to allow equipment and personnel to assist in a spill response outside the region and “determining financial liability and establishing claims and/or livelihood remediation processes during a response to a transboundary event.”
The 35-well drilling campaign seeks to explore new locations of the Stabroek Block but will also feature the drilling of appraisal wells within the proximity of previously drilled exploration areas. Appraisal wells are drilled to better define the physical attributes of petroleum resources that have been discovered through prior exploration activities.
The exact locations of the 35 wells comprising the Project have not been finalized. Pending approval, it is anticipated that the Project will begin in the third quarter of 2023, and conclude by the fourth quarter of 2028.
It must be noted that the parent company is yet to supply a parent company guarantee for its operations in the Stabroek Block, meaning that EEPGL a limited liability company will be left to handle costs associated with an oil spill.
Currently, Guyana has a mere US$600 million policy in place per oil spill event but given the experiences of other oil producing states, advocates have been demanding that ExxonMobil commit to covering all expenses above the insurance value.
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- Environmental Resources Management, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, ExxonMobil, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Stabroek Block
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