THE Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has thrown its support behind a major multi-agency oil spill response exercise which started on Tuesday and will conclude today at the Guyana Marriott Hotel.

This event, hosted by ExxonMobil Guyana and facilitated by The Response Group (TRG), aimed to bring together national and sectoral stakeholders to test coordination, communications, and incident command procedures under simulated offshore incident conditions.

The CDC’s participation reinforced its mandate as Guyana’s competent national authority for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and particularly for oil spill response and its key coordinating role in ensuring an integrated and effective response to potential oil spill incidents.

The CDC is supported by the attendance of other key government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), Guyana Fire Service (GFS), Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), and the Guyana Police Force (GPF).

CDC Director General, Colonel Nazrul Hussain, noted that this exercise forms part of Guyana’s broader efforts to strengthen preparedness and inter-agency coordination in alignment with the New Oil Pollution Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Responsibility Act, 2025, and the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP).

CDC remains committed to supporting all national and regional partners in developing a cohesive, well-trained response network that protects people, ecosystems, and economic assets. (DPI)