EVEN with its limited resources, Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Vincent Adams, believes that the agency has been meeting its regulatory requirements in Guyana’s oil sector.
In less than five years, there have been 16 oil discoveries offshore Guyana with operators involved forging ahead with plans to drill even more wells. With oil being new to Guyana, the country is quickly working to put legislation and regulatory bodies in place ahead of ‘first oil’ expected in early 2020.
The EPA has been gearing up the establishment of an Oil and Gas Unit which will include highly skilled petroleum engineers, petroleum managers and other technical staff who will assist in the overseeing of the environmental activities in the sector. The EPA has also received assistance from the World Bank which has helped in providing experts to develop the oil and gas unit.
At an oil and gas conference on Monday, Dr. Adams told the media that while the agency is not ideally where it wants to be in regards to preparedness, it has successfully kept up with its mandate and is working assiduously towards greater development. “I’m not going to stand here and lie to you and tell you that we’ve got everything in place…we have a Unit that is not in place yet but it is ready to be put in place, to oversee, and it’s going to be dedicated to the oil and gas industry,” the EPA director said. “We’re not perfect, meaning that we’re not exactly where we should be in a few years. It’s not anything unusual; it’s a new sector to use but we’re doing everything that we can. The EPA is getting maximum support from the Government and the President of the country and we’re staffing up and putting everything into place to be able to improve with time. But, right now, we’re doing what I think is necessary and adequate in terms of protecting the environment.”
The EPA is under the umbrella of the Department of Environment, Ministry of Presidency and was legally established by the Environmental Protection Act in 1996. Earlier in the year, the Agency approved the environmental permit for ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) on its Liza Phase 2 project.
Meanwhile, just on August 27, 2019, it received the EEPGL’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on the Payara Development Project. Adams stated: “We’re in the stage where we’re issuing permits for drilling, exploration, etcetera and, of course, we’re getting into Liza production very soon. So, we’re on track,” he begun. “Would we want to get to the point where we’re doing 24/7 monitoring which would be ideal? Yes, but obviously, we’re not there yet but we’ve got all the capabilities in place through our permitting process and our monitoring and their reporting systems. So, I’m comfortable and not concerned.”
