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Min. Bharrat ducks from question over who will pay for oil spill costs outside of Stabroek Block
By Davina Bagot
Kaieteur News – “I know this is a question that has been asked a lot of times, who would be responsible and what will happen. There are so many countries in the world that have been engaged in oil exploration and production since before all of us in this room were born, so there are risks involved in every sector. You go into gold mining, there is a risk, but we ensure that we work towards preventing any occurrence.”
Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat responding to questions during a press conference yesterday
This was the response provided to Kaieteur News by Minister of Natural Resources (MNR), Vickram Bharrat during his first appearance at a press conference on Tuesday. The Ministry’s ‘End-of-Year press conference’ was held at the Guyana Forestry Commission’s Complex on Water Street in Kingston, Georgetown where a range of critical questions was raised by journalists from news outlets across the country.
During the almost three-hour long engagement, the minister was asked by this publication to explain what mechanisms are in place to safeguard Guyana financially from a spill that occurs outside of the Stabroek Block during exploration. Kaieteur News requested that the Minister state who would be responsible for those costs and whether this country is in receipt of signed guarantees from the respective operators.
The minister in response reasoned that the country has technology for monitoring and will now be the only one in the Region to have its own capping stack, which is a heavy piece of equipment that is used to stop a blown-out well from causing further damage. “I heard the question several times before. The answer will remain the same, I mentioned about the capping stack, I mentioned about the technology that we have at EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)…it’s very impressive, the new software that we have and the monitoring capabilities that we have at EPA and as I mentioned this is the only country in this part of the world, even Trinidad even Suriname, they don’t have a capping stack in country. So these are some of the measures we are putting in place in the event of it…”, Bharrat said.
This newspaper however clarified that the question was specific to who would take responsibility for the cost associated with a spill when Bharrat explained that there were risks involved in every sector. He went on to note, “I know you want me to give you an exact cost and who will fund it. I won’t be able to give you that but with regard to Guyana and whether we have a signed agreement to deal with these issues, yes, and I think it was mentioned in the newspapers…I think Kaieteur News carried it today of the US$2 billion agreement that was signed with EPA, and then we have the US$600 million for each (occurrence) and the parent guarantee from Exxon. So we have all of that.”
This publication again attempted to clarify the issue, indicating that the question was relating to the costs if an oil spill that occurs outside of the Stabroek Block. To this end, the Minister would only say, “The capping stack coming to Guyana, it is not for the Stabroek Block alone. Exxon is the operator for the Canje Block as well too so I think we would have dealt with the oil spill over and over so I don’t want to commit myself to anything further.”
On Monday, this publication reported that the 12-well Exploration and Appraisal Drilling Campaign in the Canje Block, Offshore Guyana can potentially result in an oil spill that can not only hit the coasts of Regions One and Two in Guyana, but can also travel to 10 other countries. ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) in a Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) supplied to the EPA for the project said Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, and U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica could be affected.
In its bid to ramp up production activities, government recently invited bids for 14 of its oil blocks. Eight of the areas received bids while other international oil companies are actively engaged in other blocks in Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Be that as it may, the government of Guyana is yet to address who will take responsibility for a spill that occurs during exploration activities outside of the Stabroek Block.
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