Consultancy firm to aid EPA in environmental authorisation

Liza Phase 2 development

As US oil giant ExxonMobil prepares to commence the second phase of development in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recruited the services of a consultancy firm to assist in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process.
This was revealed by Minister of State Joseph Harmon at the post-Cabinet press briefing on Friday. He said the $40.3 million contract, which was awarded to a US firm, is for the review of an environmental impact assessment for Exxon’s subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd’s (EEPGL’s) Liza Phase 2 developments.
“EEPGL is seeking environmental authorisation for the second phase of development of the Liza Field in the eastern half of the Stabroek Block of its offshore oil and gas concession,” he explained.
The Minister of State went on to defend the move to recruit the consultancy firm, saying the EPA is merely filling capacity deficiency with the expertise of the firm and will be supervising the process.
“The contract will be executed under the ages of the EPA – it is the EPA certification that is important. What this company is doing is filling in on some capacity deficiencies at the EPA… So it’s basically bringing in capacity at the end of the day to help the EPA to do its work. It is not basically the EPA reneging on its responsibility and feeding it to somebody else to do it… It is the EPA that has to certify at the end of the day,” the Minister asserted.
He went on to note that this particular consultancy firm was selected by the EPA, who thought it was best suited for the work, given that it is an international firm that has tremendous experience all over the world.
According to Harmon, the cost of the contract will be borne by the oil company.
Back in January, Exxon had announced it was starting the process for the potential Liza Phase 2 development, and are progressing with plans for a potential production concept. In fact, it had revealed that as part of the regulatory process, an application was submitted to the EPA for environmental authorisation.
A statement posted on the company’s Facebook page had said, “The potential concept involves a second floating, production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) and related subsea equipment, umbilical, risers and flowlines. The proposed development concept is similar to that of Liza phase 1.”
The company said approximately 35 to 40 wells may be drilled at two subsea drill centres, consisting of a combination of producers and injectors to support production of oil, injection of water and reinjection of associated gas.
“These subsea facilities include various types of equipment, pipelines and hardware, which will allow the oil from the wells to be gathered and moved to the surface of the ocean for further processing by the FPSO,” the US oil giant had said in the social media post.
The FPSO is expected to have an estimated production capacity of approximately 190,000 to 220,000 barrels of oil per day.
Over the years, ExxonMobil has had great exploration success offshore Guyana with seven previous discoveries in the: Liza, Liza Deep, Payara, Pacora, Snoek, Ranger, and Turbot wells.
However, last month the company said that its Sorubim Well came up dry – its second ‘dry hole’ since the Skipjack back in 2016.
Nevertheless, having had a series of successful discoveries of crude in commercial quantities, ExxonMobil will be commencing oil production in 2020.
Meanwhile, as Guyana prepares for first oil in two years’ time, Government is progressing with plans to shift the petroleum section from the Natural Resources Ministry to a Department of Energy, which is to be established under the Ministry of the Presidency.
Minister Harmon said that works are “actively” in progress to set up the Department but could not give a specific timeline as to when it would be completed.