Guyana has joined the International Offshore Petroleum Environment Regulators (IOPER), an international regulators group whose help it will be seeking as it accelerates preparations for crucial oversight of the oil and gas sector as the expected start of production has been moved to next month.
According to Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency Dr. Vincent Adams, the acceptance of Guyana into the membership of the IOPER should be lauded as “a big deal” since the country is now poised to tap into the resources of a number of countries with experience in oversight of the sector.
“The biggest thing is exchange of information and their shared resources and experiences or lessons learned, in terms of building regulations,” Adams told Sunday Stabroek from Washington D.C, in the United States, where the announcement of the country’s acceptance in the IOPER was made.
Adams was at the time attending IOPER’s Annual General Meeting, which was held from October 30th to October 31st in Washington, D.C.
“So we are putting measures in place to ensure that we are ready for production, and more so that a first oil target could possibly be in December. This is the premier body for petroleum oversight, so we are in a much much better place,” he added.
Adams noted that Guyana’s application to IOPER was based on a recommendation from the World Bank, while working with his agency to set up a specialised oil and gas unit within the agency.
“The big recommendation came from the World Bank and we are really grateful for all the assistance that has been given to us by them. They understood the benefits of networking with these international bodies and we have so much to learn. What this means is that our staff from the EPA have already been invited by some of the organisations within IOPER and they will gain firsthand knowledge,” he said.
“We will share data and information and they will conduct data analysis of the water and even things like looking at the acoustics of offshore work and to see if it interferes with organisms. The technology insight is just marvelous because you get to understand things like DNA collection from the water and organisms… the whole works. We will know and see how they do the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and have so much more to learn from that. And when people ask questions in or about Guyana, we will be able to say exactly and will have trained people to explain. It will give Guyanese the confidence that we are applying the best available knowledge,” he added.
According to its website, the IOPER are a group of regulators who formed in 2013 to focus and drive improvements to environmental performance in the global offshore petroleum exploration and production industry. “We believe a collaborative global response to environmental management regulation, and the application of prudent and cautious environmental practices, benefits the offshore petroleum industry, regulators, the public and the environment,” the group says, while noting that environmental issues, including those associated with offshore petroleum operations, are gaining prominence globally.
It stated objectives are:
￭ To enable an exchange of information among regulators on:
◦ Offshore environmental trends;
◦ Industry environmental performance and best practices;
◦ Lessons from environmental incidents;
◦ Environmental regulatory practices and initiatives;
◦ Trends identified through monitoring programs; and
◦ Measuring the effectiveness of regulatory activities.
￭ To promote best sustainable environmental performance globally.
￭ To provide a network of offshore petroleum environmental regulators for mutual support and advice when required.
IOPER’s current membership includes Australia, through its National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority, Brazil though the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), Canada through the Canada-Newfoundland/Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board and the Canada Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, Mexico through its National Agency for Safety, Energy and Environment of Mexico, Zealand through its Environment Protection Authority, Norway through the Norwegian Environment Agency, the United Kingdom through its Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning and the United States through its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
Volunteered resources
Members of the organisation have already pledged to assist Guyana with technical and other resources and Adams said that their decades of combined experience in oversight offers much to this country to learn from.
“Since they are the ones ahead, both in production of oil and oversight of the sector, we can learn from their bad experiences and to now become part of that while leaning on their technological advancements. It is really going to be helping us. Most of them volunteered to provide resources for us,” he said, while noting that he is already making arrangements to send some of the staff from the EPA to the US agencies.
Adams has said that EPA lacks the resources and expertise needed to carry out the testing necessary to verify compliance in some cases and it relies heavily on mandatory reporting by operators in the oil and gas sector, to verify their compliance with waste management stipulations.
In September, he had explained that the EPA was aggressively looking to build its capacity by procuring the expertise and equipment.
He had also said then that oil companies operating in Guyana should allow regulatory authorities “unfettered” access to their operations. “There should be no prevention or stiff-arming of government employees or people who provide oversight to go on that rig at any time,” he had told an oil and gas conference on operational and environmental safeguards, where representatives from all operators here were in attendance.
Last week, he said that view still stands and he feels better knowing that this country has the help of globally recognised independent oversight agencies.
He still believes that government is committed to ensuring that the agency gets the resources needed to execute its mandate. “I know that the Government of Guyana understands the critical importance of the EPA and the role it has to play to ensure safe and environmentally sure operations, and all indications have been very encouraging in terms of government support,” he had told this newspaper.
Head of the Department of Energy Dr. Mark Bynoe has also assured that Guyana will be prepared for first oil and an earlier than expected date has no impact on this view.
As EM [ExxonMobil] (and even Hess) have indicated, they are “aiming for possible first oil” in December 2019. That is not a ringing endorsement that oil will be available in 2019 as there is still substantial work to be completed,” Bynoe said when contacted by this newspaper.
“However, should first oil be produced earlier than expected, then it does mean revenue flows for the Government of the Cooperative Republic much sooner than expected. Given the time preference of money, this has to be viewed as a positive step for the Government and People of Guyana. We continue to be encouraged by the progress being made on all fronts and [I] am confident that necessary systems will be in place to cater for an earlier date than was previously projected,” he added.
John Hess, Chief Executive Officer of Hess, ExxonMobil’s partner in the Stabroek Block, announced last Wednesday that the Liza Phase 1 discovery is now targeted to start up in December and will produce up to 120,000 gross barrels of oil per day using the Liza Destiny Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel, which arrived in Guyana in August.
Hess’ position was confirmed by ExxonMobil, the operator of the Stabroek Block, with the latter company emphasising that while the schedule have been moved forward, it is barring bad weather and other unforeseen conditions.
