By Indrawattie Natram

– as Exxonmobil hosts response presentation

SEVERAL persons who attended the presentation hosted by Exxonmobil subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Limited (EEPL) on Oil Spill response on Monday in Region Two, have called on the oil company to train persons within the region on how to respond to an oil spill if the need arises.
This request was made by fisherfolks, businessmen and also the regional democratic councillors who believe that Region Two personnel should be equipped with the necessary knowledge in an event of an oil spill.

Chairman of the Essequibo Chambers of Commerce, Deleep Singh, said that fishermen as well as environmental officers should be trained in the field. Singh therefore called on Exxonmobil to provide local training within the region to young people who will in turn act as “oil spill” trainers disseminating information to residents.
Region Two Chairman Devanand Ramdatt agreed since in his opinion Regions One and Two would be seriously affected if anything unfortunate should happen.

The fishermen who attended the presentation were particularly interested on how their livelihood would be affected in an event of an oil spill. Also, they wanted to know if compensation would be provided to them should there be a spill.

In response, Safety and Regulatory Manager for Exxonmobil, Michael Persaud, told the gathering comprising of major stakeholders from the agricultural region that the company had recently facilitated training for persons throughout Guyana. He said it was unfortunate that even though invitations were sent to all the Regions to submit the names of persons the regional administration would have wished to be trained, Region Two did not submit any. Persaud however said that he would be making the request to the company for training for personnel from there.

‘DEALING WITH OIL SPILLS’
Meanwhile at the Oil Spill response presentation held in the boardroom of the Regional Democratic Council, Oil Spill advisor for Exxonmobil Thomas Thomblin, said prevention was the greatest tool to deal with any such eventuality and gave the assurance that the company was fully equipped to deal with same. He also told the gathering that Tiered Response resources and containers recently arrived in Guyana to respond to same if the need arises.
Thomblin said the main objective of Exxon was to safeguard the people, protect the environment and protect the company’s assets and its reputation. Giving an overview on oil spill response, he also said that in an event there is an oil spill in Guyana then ExxonMobil would be prepared to act effectively by offering assistance to the authorities, give technical advice with the appropriate legal safeguards, as well as respond rapidly to life-threatening situations.

Thomblin further explained that the general roles and responsibilities of the company is to support the field response, mobilise resources, people and equipment, formulate strategies to manage the key issues, establish communications with the host Government, the field- impacted businesses, senior management, assess the worst-case scenario and the incident’s potential global impact as well as to assist to coordinate business-continuity activities. There is an establishment of a Regional Response Teams Global Coverage that is in the America’s, Europe, Africa, Asia/Pacific and Middle East.

Thomblin said that while presentations are important, training and exercises also play an integral role. He said that training was crucial to ensuring adequate preparedness.

Touching on the Tier 1 response, the oil advisor said that the EEPGL (Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited) on site is responsible for mobilising the Tier 1 resources. The Tier 1 equipment held in Guyana’s onshore and offshore operations include shore bases, fueling terminal, support vessels, drilling rig, tankers. Also, that the FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading ) systems will be available for rapid deployment in an event of an incident. There is also Tier 2 resources which will see equipment and trained personnel available through the terminals and shore bases to initiate an on shore offshore response.
The Oil Spill Response presentation was held by Exxonmobil in partnership with the Region Two Regional Democratic Council (RDC) at the request of persons who had attended the company’s last public scoping meeting held in the region.
Attending the presentation were persons from the business community, representatives from the health sector, environmental officers, Neighbourhood Democratic Councillors, Regional Democratic Councillors as well as representatives from Exxonmobil.