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Guyana getting 2 million barrels of waste daily from Exxon’s 3rd project
Kaieteur News – ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), the operator of the Stabroek Block will be dumping over two million barrels of waste overboard daily during oil production activities at its third project, Payara.
The Payara project is being developed by the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, Prosperity. That vessel was designed to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) according to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that was submitted by the developer. The study conducted by Exxon’s consultant, Environmental Resources Management (ERM), also explains that over two million barrels of waste will be discharged overboard daily, during oil production.
Payara officially commenced production activities on November 14, 2023.
In a breakdown of the discharges to be dumped overboard, it was explained in the EIA that 300,000 bpd of produced water, 1.6 million bpd cooling water, 265,000 bpd sulfate removal and potable water processing brines, 1800 bpd FPSO bilge water; 250 bpd gray water, 70 bpd sewage and 40 bpd food waste will be disposed of daily. This means that the operator will be dumping just over 2.1 million bpd of waste at the Payara project alone.
Guyana’s third FPSO, Prosperity
Presently, Exxon is producing oil at the Liza One and Liza Two projects in the Stabroek Block as well.
ERM in the Payara study pointed out that certain wastes will be treated prior to discharge to avoid pollution of the environment and harsh impacts to marine resources.
For instance, produced water which contains oil and grease and is hot in temperature will treated to ensure the oil content does not exceed 42 milligrams per liter (mg/l) on a daily basis or 29 mg/l on a monthly average.
The former head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Vincent Adams had expressed concern over this standard, arguing that the oil content in the produced water can accumulate to hundreds of thousands of barrels over the life of a project.
Dr. Adams a Petroleum and Environmental Engineer told reporters that while Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo boasts of tightening environmental provisions in the Permits, the government failed to ensure the operator re-injects this toxic waste back into the wells.
He explained, “We have got all that water being dumped into the ocean instead of re-injecting so over the life, and when we see the EPA send out this narrative here about they are treating the water, there are still oil in the water and if you calculate that small concentration over the life of the field, we will have had hundreds of thousands of barrels of pure oil dumped in the ocean with that water.”
The Petroleum Engineer therefore noted, “So when they talk about its only 29 milligrams per liter, it adds up. For every million barrel of water that is dumped, 29 to 40 barrels of oil is going there. So if you add it up, you are going to be dumping hundreds of thousands of pure oil into that ocean, not to mention the toxic metals such as led, mercury and radioactivity, natural radioactivity that is coming from the water from the earth.”
While there continues to be concerns regarding the dumping of produced water and environmental damages caused by production, calls by Guyanese and the international community for better fiscal terms have been ignored by the government.
Citizens have been protesting against the terms of the lopsided agreement which favours the oil companies and hardly allows any benefits for the country. For instance, the deal allows the oil company to deduct a whopping 75 percent of the monthly revenues towards cost alone. In the absence of a ring-fencing provision, the contractor is allowed to spend on projects that are yet to come on stream. According to the contract, Guyana then shares the remaining 25 percent evenly with Exxon as profits. The country also receives two percent royalty, one of the lowest rates known to the industry. It should also be noted that Exxon and its sub-contractors are exempted from paying taxes under the PSA.
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