ExxonMobil to host 10 days of public meetings on 7th oil project

Jul 19, 2024 News

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– as Amerindians, other Guyanese raise concerns over limited time, lack of information

Kaieteur News – Previously accused of conducting farcical engagements with the public, ExxonMobil is again set to host another round of consultations, commencing next week, on its seventh proposed deepwater project, Hammerhead.

In a notice appearing in Kaieteur News’ Thursday edition, the operator of the oil rich Stabroek Block informed that the public scoping meetings are geared towards providing information to the public on the project.

On July 22, Exxon will commence its public engagements with residents of Region Three at the Leonora Technical Institute, West Coast Demerara from 10am.

Following criticisms from its last round of public scoping sessions, Exxon increased the number of meetings to be held in Region Four.

Three meetings are scheduled for the country’s most populated region- one at the Umana Yana, Georgetown, another at the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) in Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara and another at the New Diamond/Grove Primary School, East Bank Demerara.

A total of 10 meetings will be held during the 10-day consultation period.

Notably, the oil company is also set to engage the hinterland region, with two meetings scheduled for Region One.

Previously, Toshao of the Warapoka Village, Jaremy Boyal raised concerns over the manner in which Indigenous communities are engaged on oil and gas activities. He said there has been a heavy focus on money and benefits of the sector, rather than educating the communities on the potential dangers they are exposed to as a result of the offshore activities.

At a number of public consultations held in the past by ExxonMobil, the Toshao said he enquired about the Shell Beach protected area; however, his question has not been addressed.  Oil spill modeling shows that this area can be affected by an oil spill; however, the Toshao said, “That has not been on the agenda…many times, sometimes we would try to have what would be the effect, how are we playing a role if there is gonna be one, but again that is not something that we as villages are aware of.”

According to him, “We just hear one side of the story that there is so much production, that there is so much millions that we can earn in the next five, 10, 15, 20 years and the rate of development plus we are one of the fastest growing economies in the world.”

Even on the coast, Exxon has faced criticisms for failing to address critical issues on its operations. During public consultations on the sixth project- Whiptail- in February last year, several questions asked were left unanswered.

Importantly, a critical subject raised during the meeting at Umana Yana was insurance for the sixth project. The Projects Manager for ExxonMobil Guyana, Anthony Jackson said he was not able to give a response but knows that the company will not leave if there is an oil spill incident.

Meanwhile, the moderator of one of the sessions, Alex Graham had 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 another 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 again at the Mahaicony Training Institute when KN Publisher, Glenn Lall was denied a response to his question on cumulative project impacts.

The 7th project

Hanmerhead is expected to add 120,000 to 180,000 barrels of oil per day production capacity. The Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel will be capable of storing approximately 1.4 to 2 million barrels of oil. Third-party oil tankers will be scheduled to offload the oil from the FPSO, making the oil available for export to the international market.

Hammerhead is located in the south-central portion of the Stabroek Block, approximately 160 km from Georgetown. Current plans include drilling via drill ships to produce oil using approximately 14 to 30 production and injection wells. Production is expected to begin in 2029 subject to the necessary regulatory approvals and operate for at least 20 years.  To date, Exxon has obtained approval from the Government of Guyana for six development projects in the Stabroek Block – Liza Phase One, Liza Phase Two, Payara, Yellowtail, Uaru and Whiptail. The first three projects are already producing oil at a daily estimated rate of 640,000 barrels per day (bpd).

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• engagements, Georgetown, Guyanese, Hammerhead, information

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