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Exxon opens consultations on 6th project tomorrow at Leonora
Kaieteur News – Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) – ExxonMobil Guyana- the operator of the Stabroek Block is set to commence public consultations on its sixth deepwater project tomorrow at the Leonora Technical Institute, West Coast Demerara.
A citizen (right) shares his concern about the lack of public engagements on oil and gas matters during an ExxonMobil consultation in February this year at Mahaica.
The project, Whiptail is Exxon’s largest development to date, pegged at US$12.9 billion. The company is expected to engage the public on the 3636 paged Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) it submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) only 22 days prior. The document contains technical data such as the standards that would be employed in the development of the project, the estimated amount of discharges that can cause pollution, likely impacts to humans and the environment as well as outlines mitigative measures among others.
The regulator had issued a public notice on August 20, 2023 informing that the document was available for public scrutiny and comments as required by the Environmental Protection Act. This process allows stakeholders to better understand the development and share concerns relative to its operations. Following the release of the EIA, ExxonMobil announced that it will commence a series of public consultations on September 12, 2023.
Concerns have been raised by the public regarding the strategic move by the operator to commence public consultations on the project amid the Cricket Carnival season in Guyana. The country will be hosting a series of games during the period Exxon will be conducting meetings on the sixth project. In fact the local games commence on Wednesday, September 13 at the National Stadium in Providence, East Bank Demerara (Region Four), the same day the oil giant will meet with stakeholders at the Umana Yana in Georgetown on the planned development.
It must be noted that even as the company prepares for another round of consultations, the public was sidelined during the last set of public meetings on the sixth project.
It was during the scoping meetings for the Whiptail development held in February this year that moderator of the session, Alex Graham directed officials from the company not to respond to questions raised by Kaieteur News, since he found it irrelevant to the specific project. Those questions pertained to the options for use of excess gas from the project and the insurance policy in place for oil spills.
At a second session, held in Leonora, this newspaper’s senior journalist was prevented from interrogating ExxonMobil officials on a series of issues since she challenged them on misleading the public on the impacts of the project.
The lynching of hardcore questions was evident for a third time at the Mahaicony Training Institute when KN Publisher, Glenn Lall was denied a response to his question on cumulative project impacts.
Kaieteur News understands that the EIA was conducted by Exxon’s well-known consultant, Environmental Resources Management (ERM). The credibility and independence of the firm has been questioned in the past by stakeholders who flagged what was described as a “long running relationship”, with ExxonMobil and the EPA.
To date, ERM has completed all of ExxonMobil’s EIAs, except for its fifth impact study, conducted by Acorn International. It is unclear why this Consultancy firm has been booted.
SIXTH PROJECT
Notably, ExxonMobil’s sixth and largest oil project seeks to produce oil at the Whiptail, Pinktail and Tilapia fields. According to the Project Summary, Whiptail is located in the south eastern portion of the Stabroek Block, approximately 183 km from Georgetown. Current plans include drilling via drill ships to produce oil from approximately 40 – 65 production and injection wells. The company hopes to start up the sixth development by the fourth quarter of 2027 or first quarter of 2028. It has an expected field life of at least 20 years.
Public meetings across the country on the development are expected to commence on September 12, 2023 and run until September 22, 2023.
Only on Sunday this publication reported that an unmitigated oil spill could devastate the livelihoods of citizens in Regions One through Six. This is outlined in the EIA submitted by Exxon. The public will have an opportunity to engage the developer directly on its concerns during the consultations.
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