Nalco Champion’s provisional approval for operations at the John Fernandes Ltd (JFL) Water Street Terminal was too risky for client ExxonMobil, according to Country Manager Rod Henson.
“There were some conditions in which we could be shut down and with the importance of first oil, we really couldn’t take that lack of certainty in the short term so we’re going to start operations outside of Guyana,” Henson said on Monday.
Nalco Champion last week notified the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that ExxonMobil had moved to access those services overseas.
Nalco’s initial plans for the storage of chemicals at the JFL Inland Terminal at Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, for eventual transfer to ExxonMobil’s offshore Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) oil platform, had triggered protests from residents amidst concerns about possible health dangers to nearby communities.
“Last week, Nalco Champion received an Interim Environmental Authorization from the Guyana EPA to begin operations from an alternate, temporary site at the John Fernandes Ltd. Main Terminal on Water Street, Georgetown. Regretfully, the interim authorization came with certain stipulations that prevent Nalco Champion from implementing our operation within the timeframe required to ensure reliable operations in Guyana. In order to guarantee operational assurance of chemical supply to the Liza Destiny FPSO and meet contractual obligations, we will be temporarily sourcing products from outside Guyana,” the company said in a statement.
“This is only a temporary arrangement in the interim as we work with the EPA on securing the Environmental Authoriza-tion needed to establish our storage facility in Georgetown. Nalco Champion remains committed to setting up a long-term operational base in Guyana. The company operates similar storage facilities in hundreds of communities worldwide in accordance with world class standards and has a proven track record of safe, sustainable operations. We believe the facility will be an important investment in the new oil and gas production that will support the Guyana economy and local community, and look forward to continuing our work with the EPA on setting up our long-term operational base in Guyana,” it added.
EPA Executive Director Dr. Vincent Adams had explained that following a meeting, where representatives of the company had met with residents, the EPA granted a temporary permit and set out the criteria for giving the permit.
“We had issued them an interim authorisation while they proceed with the required [Environmental Impact Assessment]. So they could have gone ahead. It was a 12 months approval. It is the same length of time that [the Central Housing and Planning Authority] gave them while they work through the process. I do not understand why they did not use it when they were given an interim permit. I do not understand why not,” Adams ex-plained.
“One of the conditions of that interim permit was an issuance of [a] permit from the fire service and approval from the Guyana Sea Defence Board and, of course, for conducting the EIA. The second was [for undertaking] the Environmental Impact Assessment even as they were operating at John Fernandes, and the third mitigation measure [was] to significantly reduce any adverse impact to the environment and human health. The bottom line is they were allowed to operate. We gave them authority to operate while they put these things in place. They are now saying that they are unable to meet those conditions,” he added.
But Henson said that his company prefers that its service provider meet the requirements for a permanent operation in order to ensure operation certainty, while saying the conditions it is to meet are reasonable.
Nalco has assured ExxonMobil that it would be working to get the permanent location, even as Henson stressed that ExxonMobil wants the service to be stationed here. He said that he understands that “Nalco is working in parallel to bring those operations into Guyana as quickly as possible.”
Adams said on Monday that he had hoped that the company would have taken the permit and put the measures outlined in place as the EPA was “bending backwards” to help .
However, he said that he could not compromise health and safety for monetary gains.
“It is my desire and the agency’s desire and everybody’s desire to have those businesses operating out of Guyana but there is a limit to that. You cannot compromise on the health safety and environment and let economics of it take over your decision-making process,” he said.
