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ExxonMobil must be held liable for all oil spill costs – T&T oil expert
Former Head of Maintenance and Reliability at BP Trinidad and Tobago, Kuarlal Rampersad
…urges Guyana to take urgent measures to ensure company does not dodge responsibilities
Kaieteur News – ExxonMobil must not be allowed to hand Guyana limited protection to cover costs associated with an oil spill. The multinational corporation, presently earning billions of US-dollars from Guyana’s resources, must instead be held liable for any and all costs related to such a disaster.
This was stressed by a Trinidad and Tobago oil expert, Kuarlal Rampersad in a recent interview with this publication. Rampersad who spent over 30 years in a senior management position at British Petroleum (BP) Trinidad and Tobago, pointed to the importance of the company taking full responsibility for an oil spill which can occur, citing Guyana’s massive daily offshore production now nearing one million barrels.
Presently, ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), the operator of the prolific Stabroek Block is producing about 645,000 barrels per day at three projects, the Liza One, Liza Two and Payara.
To this end, Rampersad said, “ExxonMobil is supposed to take responsibility for all costs associated with an oil spill…Exxon cannot give a certain amount of money to the Guyanese government and say listen in the case of an oil spill do not hold us liable, you have to indemnify us.”
Guyana has accepted a US$2B oil spill guarantee from ExxonMobil and its two Co-Venturers, Hess Guyana Exploration Limited and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, as the case for full liability protection continues in the Court of Appeal.
In addition to the limited guarantee, Exxon has also provided a US$600 million insurance policy per oil spill event. Citizens however argue that it is the state that will be made to cover any destruction above that sum. Notably, Guyana’s Caribbean neighbours are not covered under that oil spill provision.
The Trinidadian therefore urged Guyana to ensure it is not left on the hook to clean up after the company. Rampersad said, “It cannot be ExxonMobil saying I gonna give the Guyanese government, let’s say US$20M and put it into an account so just in case of an oil spill, you’re going to indemnify us. They mad or what? You cannot do that! Look at the production rate in Guyana now. Guyana’s production rate is close to one million barrels per day and if that happened to be spill you know what would happen and who is going to be responsible?”
Considering the fact that Guyana’s oil operations could potentially impact a dozen Caribbean nations, he urged that a proactive approach to such a situation was not only necessary, but urgently required.
“Because if ExxonMobil come and say listen, this thing happened, and we going to sell out the assets, let’s say to Shell, what’s going to happen? They cannot sell that; you have to tie them into this,” Rampersad said.
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