PRESIDENT of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, has said that the company is hopeful that the Court of Appeal case will go in their favour as the upholding of the High Court ruling would affect the company’s operations here.

Routledge made these remarks during a press conference held at the company’s Duke Street, Kingston office, on Friday.

He stated that the company was disappointed with the previous ruling made at the supreme court.

Early in May, High Court Judge, Sandil Kissoon, ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue an enforcement notice directing ExxonMobil to provide an unlimited parent company guarantee agreement and/or unlimited liability affiliate company guarantee along with environmental liability insurance within 30 days.

During the press conference, Routledge told members of the media that there are very clear obligations in the environmental permit from the EPA which gives them the absolute obligation as the investor and operator in the Stabroek Block to prevent, mitigate and pay for clean-up of an oil spill.

As such, he said: “It says clearly in the permit that there should be an estimate that guides the value of that guarantee. It’s important to have that because then the permit also goes on to say that it needs to be clear that affiliated companies have the substance, the wherewithal to provide those funds.”

He noted that in a worst-case scenario which is highly unlikely, ExxonMobil has committed to having all those resources available and have been working with affiliated companies to finalise the same and provide that to the EPA.

When asked about the company’s appeal and whether it is a pushback against another safeguard, he indicated that it is not a pushback against safeguards as the company wants those safeguards to be in place financially.
“What we disagree with is on the matter of facts, it’s clear in the permit what our obligations were and we believe that the ruling is incorrect,” he said.

It was then that he clarified that the appeal is merely an objection that shows that the ruling contradicts the clauses in the permit.

Meanwhile, he went on to add that this particular case directly affects the Liza Phase 1 project.

“There are two aspects: one is the ruling itself on the findings, then there’s the order that the judge issued which required certain measures to be taken. If we can’t meet the requirements of the order then the Liza Phase 1 would be suspended,” he remarked.

He reiterated that if this ruling is upheld it could see the suspension of operations at the Liza Phase 1 project even as he noted that this would not affect the operations of the rest of the Stabroek Block at this time.

The Court of Appeal is expected to assess the merits of the appeal filed by the Environmental Protection Agency to overturn Justice Sandil Kissoon’s decision that the agency and Exxon breached obligations related to its oil spill insurance policy.

The judge had issued an order that directed the EPA to issue an enforcement notice to ExxonMobil’s local affiliate, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL).

That order required EEPGL to provide an unlimited parent company guarantee agreement or unlimited liability affiliate company guarantee along with environmental liability within 30 days as is customary in the international petroleum industry.

ExxonMobil subsequently filed its own appeal.