By Darshanand Khusial
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Feb. 4, 2022: Would you blindly trust someone who has treated you unfairly as a partner? It appears the Government of Guyana has put its faith in the oil companies that operate in the Stabroek Block.
This is not a wise decision, given the numerous issues that have been raised during oil production such as flaring and a reduction in fish being caught. We need to have our own checks in place and stop relying on the oil companies to inform us on matters of national importance. We are a sovereign state not a subsidiary of the oil companies.
Starting with signing for the 2016 Stabroek Contract, there are many issues that have been raised with regard to trusting the oil companies. The contract was not signed with Exxon, HESS, or CNOOC. Instead, shell companies registered in the Caribbean are named on the contract. These shell companies have limited resources, but they serve the purpose of protecting the parent companies from major lawsuits and liabilities. The contract itself contains highly questionable terms including Guyana paying taxes on behalf of the oil companies.
Yet, more than 5 years after signing the Stabroek contract, we blindly trust these oil companies to tell us how much gas is being flared and the amount of toxic water which is dumped into the ocean. More concerning, there is no mention of the vastly more polluting venting of gas.
In July 2020, the media reported that the Guyana EPA said that the gas flaring was projected to end on August 10th, 2020. However, more than a year and half after that statement, the oil companies are still flaring our gas. On December 4th, 2021 during a Moray House Trust, see here, it was noted that Liza 1 operations was bringing up, on a daily basis, 180 million standard cubic feet (mmscfd) of gas with the oil.
The 180 mmscfd figure is from page viii of the EIA Volume 1 for Liza Phase 1. However, after subtracting for the gas flared (16 mmscfd) and that used in operations (20 mmscfd), there were at least 83 billion cubic feet of gas (144 mmscfd x 578 days) that is not accounted for since Liza 1 started producing oil. That amount of gas that could have powered all the homes in Guyana for about 7 years has vanished, without any questions! Can the Ministry of Natural Resources and the EPA give an explanation for that?
There are numerous reports about the lives of our fishermen being severely being impacted by a significant reduction in the fish being caught. Is it a coincidence the reduction in fish seems to have occurred in the same period when we started pumping oil? Who is monitoring the changes caused the by daily dumping of toxic water from the oil production vessels? Thousands of fishermen are being affected but it seems like there is no action to figure out the root cause. Could the fish that is now being caught contain oil related toxins that are harmful to our people?
It was reported in the media we have at least some equipment to monitor. However, it appears that equipment is sitting idle. Why?
We should learn for our neighbor Suriname, that has a fraction of our oil resources. They have 24-hour, seven days a week in-person monitoring for oil production. In fact, the former head of Suriname’s national oil company, in a recent media interview, has advised us to put in place a similar monitoring system.
We are depending on oil companies who have been unfair partners to monitor for us. Given our lack of monitoring, would we find out that a major oil spill has occurred when it washes up on our shores? Before we approve Yellowtail, we need 24-hour monitoring in place for such things as flaring, toxic water and oil spills.
