Guyana’s oil spill response plan still under review – CDC Head

Jun 18, 2024 News

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By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – Guyana’s National Oil Spill Response Plan (OSRP), completed some four years ago by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) is currently under revision.

Director General of the CDC, Colonel (Retired) Nazrul Hussain in an interview with Kaieteur News on Monday explained that the process is ongoing to update the response plan. Presently, three projects offshore Guyana are producing approximately 645,000 barrels of oil per day (bp.d) in the Stabroek Block. When the document was launched in August 2020 the country had merely one Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel in operation, producing just over 100,000 bpd. In addition to production activities, ExxonMobil is also conducting exploration offshore. The Government of Guyana is also in the process of awarding more oil blocks for exploration activities, following its successful maiden bid round.

Following the launch of the OSRP, Auditor General (AG) Deodat Sharma in a Performance Audit Report conducted in 2022 concluded that the plan was deficient in a number of areas. Consequently, the CDC commenced efforts to address key aspects of the document. Hussain told this publication yesterday, “What we have done, we did have a meeting some time ago with regards to sensitising and modernizing the Oil Spill Plan and now that we have this draft (Oil Spill) legislation, the next step forward is to ensure they are in sync with each other.”

The CDC head told this newspaper that he could not share the areas that were being addressed at the time. Additionally, Hussain explained that there is no timeline set for the completion of the revision.  According to him, “We are the end users so we really have to have some consultations; we are going to do consultations on the local level to ensure that it’s in sync with all the stakeholders’ responsibilities etcetera. So basically, it’s a work in progress because it was done a few years ago and it needs to be updated every year.”

Former Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Vincent Adams during an Oil Spill Forum in observance of World Environment Day described the OSRP as “inadequate”.

He told attendees at the Cara Lodge Hotel, Georgetown, “You also must have a very good oil response plan because you have to prepare for the worse…anything can happen because of the state of the mind at the time so you must be prepared for if something happens.”

To this end, he argued that the current Oil Spill Plan is “inadequate” and never received the stamp of approval from the EPA while he headed the agency.  In a subsequent comment, Dr. Adams explained that the document lacked a risk assessment and failed to outline the clear roles and responsibilities of stakeholders.  “You could not do such a plan without understanding what the risks are and how you would respond and mitigate and the roles and responsibilities of those stakeholders who participated in the plan was not clear,” the former EPA Head said.

Notably, the OSRP was prepared by the CDC under the previous administration. On Monday, the Auditor General told Kaieteur News that a follow-up audit of the Plan was imminent. He explained, “What we will do is a follow up audit to determine what is the status now. That is the procedure. After two years, we normally go in back after giving them time to fix it and check it.”

In his performance audit report, the AG said places of refuge during oil spills are essential to protect human life and the environment. Elaborating further, Sharma said a ‘place of refuge’ is a pre-defined site where a ship in need of assistance can be taken to stabilize its condition and reduce the hazards to navigation, and protect human life and the environment. He said the development of contingency plans should provide for specific, high-risk spills with potential places of refuge identified and procedures put in place for their implementation. Sharma said too that these plans should be tailored to protect sensitive areas from the impacts of possible spills to save time during the critical first few hours of a vessel response. Much to his dismay, Guyana’s National Oil Spill Contingency Plan does not identify potential places of refuge. As such, the Auditor General said it could not be determined how decision-makers will respond to vessels in distress and how sensitive areas will be protected during an oil spill.

The Civil Defence Commission, which spearheaded the development of the document in collaboration with other agencies acknowledged the foregoing flaw. Notwithstanding this, it said it must be noted that at the time of any spill response, the tactics and strategies to be employed will determine how a vessel will be treated which includes position. It said, “The ultimate priority at the time of an incident would be to save lives, contain the spill and recover or treat pollutants. Removing the vessel may only be done, in Guyana’s context if the vessel is in the channel of any of the main rivers that are being traversed or at the time when full containment and stabilisation are achieved.”

 

 

 

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• CDC, oil, plan, revision, spill

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