US OIL firm, ExxonMobil says it is fully prepared to handle any oil spill here even as Guyana gears up to go into oil production in 2020.
The American oil giant ExxonMobil says its systems are always at ready to respond to an oil spill, should one occur and while government is also working to improve its own capability to address such occurrences.
Speaking at a public lecture at the Queen’s College auditorium on Sunday afternoon Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman told those gathered that the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) is the lead agency as regards environmental issues and it receives support from the ministry as well as the GGMC and Maritime Administration Department and the Environmental Protection agency (EPA).
He said the CDC has benefited from training regarding oil spills and he noted that there is a draft plan which is constantly being revised. He said it is universally accepted that there be a standard response. “So it is not as if we are coming up with our own plan but what we are coming up with of course is what unique features we would have to build in or overlay to the standard plan,“ Trotman said.
As regard funding for response activities, the Minister noted that there is a percentage of revenue from the oil earnings which will be channeled into the Environmental Trust Fund which has been established by law to address potential risks or accidents. Speaking on the present situation where monitoring is concerned, he said that GGMC officers are on board the oil vessels engaged in oil exploration on a 24 hours basis. “This will likely to be ramped up as we go into further explorations and production,” Trotman said. He said other agencies including the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) are likely to play a similar role.
In addition, Trotman noted that government is working with the Caribbean Disaster Environmental Management Agency (CDEMA) and has established a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the government of Trinidad and Tobago on the issue of response.
He said in the first year of oil production, the government may not have the income to respond as it would wish, however from year one the country will earn some US$380M and this would strengthen Guyana’s capacity to respond as time progresses. Speaking on Exxon’s preparedness in the event there is an oil spill, Thomas Tomblin, Oil Response Advisor of the oil company noted that there is no other place that is anymore prepared than Exxon Mobil in Guyana.
”We are prepared,” he said. He said there are a host of experts including biomedical scientists, toxicologists and other highly trained staff in the company’s employ and they are ready to respond if a spill ever occurs and offer advice to the population to prevent persons from being harmed.
Tomblin noted that the company has employed experts to evaluate its oil response plans adding that it has also contracted agencies to evaluate such plans. “So we use third parties all the time, to test and evaluate the validity of all our firms,” he told those gathered. Exxon’s Country Manager, Rod Henson told the gathering that the company has undertaken “extensive mapping“ of Guyana’s coastline to identify sensitive areas should an oil spill occurs. These include residential areas, birding and nesting grounds as well as the beaches. In terms of meeting its obligations in the event of a spill, he said “we have the financial strength to deal with any event, even a tier three event.”
