No environmental risk of tsunami from Whiptail project – EPA

– says Guyana in area with minimal seismic risk

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has clarified that, contrary to reports, there is no environmental risk of tsunami from Whiptail, ExxonMobil’s sixth development offshore Guyana. Among other reasons, this is because Guyana is in an area with minimal risk of seismic activity.
In a statement over the weekend, the EPA noted that there is no indication, in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the recently approved Whiptail Development Project, that there is a risk of tsunami due to the project.
“The EIA for the Whiptail Development Project does not indicate any link between the proposed project’s activities and tsunamis. Tsunamis are natural events resulting from undersea earthquakes caused by the movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates. The Whiptail Development Project, EIA informs, that the likelihood of natural events such as tsunamis impacting the Development Project is minimal,” EPA said.

Reports in sections of the media had said the exact opposite, and had sought to quote sections of the EIA to indicate the possibility of a tsunami. According to the EPA, however, such reports are misleading, and it noted that all the assessment did was put the risk of a tsunami in the context of comprehensive futuristic and hypothetical assessments of risk.
To provide clarity for the public…the section of the EIA titled “Natural Hazard Risk Ratings for Guyana” highlighted findings from the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) assessments in 2014. These assessments, conducted as part of a global initiative, identified floods, droughts and landslides as the most significant risks to Guyana, based on historical records. Notably, historical data did not indicate tsunami risk to Guyana.
“Nevertheless, futuristic assessments by UNISDR took into account the potential impact of tsunamis on Guyana. According to UNISDR 2014, while floods pose the most significant risk, the risks from earthquakes and tsunamis were deemed not significant enough to be included in the economic analysis, due to their predicted low recurrence interval.”
Added to this, according to the EPA, is the fact that the section of the Stabroek Block where Whiptail will be situated is approximately 294 kilometres from the boundary between the Caribbean and South American plates, and over 1,050 kilometres from the nearest area of active seismic activity (near Puerto Rico).
“Moreover, Guyana lies within the stable interior portion (craton) of the South American tectonic plate, indicating minimal seismic risks to the country. Lastly, a seismic hazard map developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hazard Mapping Program illustrates that there is only a 2 per cent chance within 50 years of a very minor seismic event occurring in the PDA. Such an event would likely not even be perceptible to individuals at the exact location,” EPA also said.
Whiptail is expected to add approximately 250,000 barrels of daily capacity by the end of 2027, when it is slated to come on stream, thus bringing the country’s production capacity up to approximately 1.3 million barrels per day.
The multi-billion-dollar Whiptail project, which is expected to last for at least 20 years, would include up to 10 drill centres with 48 production and injection wells. Meanwhile, the floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Whiptail project, to be named Jaguar, is under construction.
The FPSO will be designed to produce 250,000 barrels of oil per day, will have an associated gas treatment capacity of 540 million cubic feet per day, and a water injection capacity of 300,000 barrels per day. The FPSO will be spread-moored in a water depth of about 1,630 metres, and will be able to store around 2 million barrels of crude oil.
Currently, ExxonMobil has three FPSOs – the Liza Destiny from the Liza Phase One Project, Liza Unity from the Liza Phase Two Project, and Prosperity from the Payara Project – which are currently operating offshore Guyana and are safely producing more than 600,000 barrels of oil per day.
Additionally, construction is underway on FPSOs for the Yellowtail Project – the One Guyana FPSO, which is set to commence production in 2025; and for the Uaru Project – the Errea Wittu FPSO, which is anticipated to start in 2026. In addition to these six projects offshore Guyana, Exxon is eyeing the possibility of having 10 FPSOs operational by 2030.