-flaring equal to destroying 6.2 hectares of forest per day continuing
Exxon’s flaring of over nine billion cubic feet of natural gas since oil production began in December is equivalent to the loss of 4,642 hectares of forest, which would be valued at US$24 million based on the carbon price under Guyana’s forest protection pact with Norway, says conservationist Dr David Singh.
Singh, who was deeply involved in the Guyana-Norway forest pact as head of Conservation International-Guyana, is now the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Director for the Guianas. He told Sunday Stabroek in an interview that the WWF is closely monitoring ExxonMobil’s flaring and cautioned that countries like Guyana must not allow the fossil fuel industry to free-ride on their low carbon economies. He said that the must play an important role in limiting their emissions.
“WWF is monitoring the situation closely. As scientists predict that we no longer have years but months to address our carbon emissions globally, the fossil fuel industry must play an increasing role in curtailing – not increasing their carbon emissions,” Singh said.
“For countries like Guyana that are striving to establish green, low-carbon economies, the fossil fuel industry must step up and contribute meaningfully to a green agenda. Free-riding by, or subsidising carbon production companies must be curtailed,” he added.
But officials say that while there is a high degree of sensitivity and commitment to protection of the environment, the reality is that there has to be a balance between acceptable risks and benefits.
“It is not realistic, as some environmentalists may say, to keep all the oil in the ground. Then, currently there would be no automobiles, no transportation, no electricity, no food production, no medical care…Everything is driven by energy. Without the current existence of renewables as replacements the world would come to a standstill. You have to find that balance. All regulations are derived by consideration of acceptable risk and benefits,” Head of the Environmental Protection Agency Dr Vincent Adams told Stabroek News.
“The benefits provided by the discovery and production of oil in Guyana is really to generate an economy that would enhance the acceleration towards the development of renewable energy. This means that revenue from the very oil production would provide this country the opportunity for the investment into the development and utilising our natural resources for that transfer of renewables. Right now, without oil we just do not have the revenues to enhance that vision,” he added.
Adams has repeatedly said that this experience of the high flaring volume is a lesson learned not only for his agency but for the company and it will not ever be allowed again.
ExxonMobil’s six-month period of flaring of more than nine billion cubic feet of natural gas will significantly impact this country’s 2020 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Lost
Utilising the calculations from the forest protection pact between Guyana and Norway, it is equivalent to US$24 million worth of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Under that agreement, which was signed in 2010, Guyana pledged to accelerate its efforts to limit forest-based GHG emissions and protect its rainforest as an asset for the world. As such, Norway provided financial support at a level based on this country’s success in limiting emissions with a price set at US$5 per tonne of CO2 equivalent.
Utilising the calculation, nine billion standard cubic feet of methane gas flared would amount to 4.8 million tonnes CO2 equivalent. Multiplying that by the US$5 carbon price reflected in the Guyana-Norway agreement indicates that this country theoretically would have lost US$24 million under that pact had it been from deforestation.
To further illustrate, according to Guyana’s 2018 Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) report under the forest protection pact, this country lost 9,227 hectares of forest that year.
The CO2 equivalent emissions from ExxonMobil’s nine billion cubic feet of gas flaring would be equivalent to 4,642 hectares of deforestation or more than half of this country’s annual total.
The nine billion cubic feet of gas flared as at mid-May, with an estimated 15 million cubic feet per day flared since then, is also likely to impact the oil major’s own sustainability commitments as the company had in 2018 committed to a target of reducing flaring in 2020 by 25% of its 2016 totals.
ExxonMobil’s 2020 Energy Carbon Summary shows that the company had set a global performance standard in 2018, where it committed to 25% reduction in flaring from the 2016 benchmark by 2020. This is equal to a commitment of a maximum flaring of 397.5 million standard cubic feet (MMscf)/day in 2020.
“ExxonMobil is committed to mitigating emission in our operations. As we grow our business to meet increasing demand, we are working to minimise the resulting increase in emissions. In 2018, we announced our GHG emissions reduction measures that are expected to lead to considerable improvements in emissions performance when compared with 2016 levels. These include: 15 percent reduction in methane emissions by 2020, 25 percent reduction in flaring by 2020, 10 percent GHG emissions intensity reduction at imperial operated oil sands by 2023,” the report states.
In Guyana, the emissions at Exxon’s Liza-1 project alone of 80 MMscf/day would represent 20.1% of the promised global threshold performance limit of the company.
For the WWF, its maintains its position that fossil fuels are best left below the surface, given the harmful impacts on the world’s climate, although it said that “we respect the decisions of poor developing countries to choose.”
‘Constant’
On the 11th of June, the Sunday Stabroek had reported that as a result of persistent compressor problems, production at the Liza-1 had plummeted from 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) to between 25,000 and 30,000 bpd as the company restricted flaring to no more than 15 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
The decision followed reports by this newspaper in early May that glitches during production startup saw flaring of over two billion cubic feet of natural gas—a figure subsequently confirmed by Adams to be over nine billion cubic feet—even as the company had assured that it would have from that week begin transitioning to using the gas for well injection purposes.
A number of persons, as well as a global environmental and human rights organisation, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), pointed to the effects of the GHG emissions on the environment, as they condemned the act.
ExxonMobil on June 17th assured that it was working fervently to fix the problems with its compressor equipment and said that the lessons learned will be applied to its next Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, as well as future projects. The company updated that flaring figures would remain at 15 million cubic feet but it was again ramping up production.
The company also maintained that it was working within its permit and contract guidelines for flaring, which provides that flaring could be done during production startup and in the event of emergencies. It said that the “situation is a temporary, unplanned event related to project startup.”
“We are currently still in the start-up period for Liza Phase 1 which involves temporary flaring to fully commission the gas compression and injection systems for safe operations as outlined in the approved environmental impact assessment and permit,” ExxonMobil’s Public and Government Affairs Advisor Deedra Moe had told this newspaper.
Adams said in another update that flaring has been constant at around 12 million cubic feet per day and the company would from today pause works for a nine-day maintenance period of the FPSO.
“They are going down for maintenance for nine days for the FPSO. The equipment to be repaired is in Germany and they are hoping to get it back by the end of July. So they are flaring now at a constant 12 million cubic feet per day, but the end of July when it [the equipment] returns, it is expected to go to zero flaring,” the EPA Director said.
But even at 12 million cubic feet flaring per day, the carbon emissions are still significant and would be equivalent to 6,400 tonnes of CO2 being released per day or deforestation of 6.2 hectares (15.3 acres).
Given Exxon’s global mitigation promises, it is unclear if their reduction in production had less to do with the company being concerned about maintaining good relations with the EPA or meeting Guyana’s green agenda, than it had to do with its own sustainability commitments.
President David Granger has said that to combat climate change, Guyana intends to implement initiatives in the forestry and renewable energy sectors, including through the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programme. “We will move closer towards a 100% renewable power supply by 2025, conditional on appropriate support and adequate resources,” he had said following the signing of the Paris Agreement to combat climate change.
According to Granger, Guyana’s proposed commitments, through avoided emissions, can contribute the equivalent of up to 48.7 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide to the global mitigation effort. It was to this end that his government’s much-touted Green State Development Strategy (GSDS) framework was crafted.
The Ministry of the Presidency had said that the GSDS will be “a living example of Guyana’s commitment to the planet” and will also ensure the sustainable growth and economic well-being of the country’s population, while guiding Guyana’s national development policies for the next 20 years. Some experts said that it was unrealistic.
‘Life is about balance’
This country did not factor in oil and gas production or made reference to an oil and gas industry when it signed the 2015 Paris Agreement. Its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was a pledged contribution to the global effort to combat climate change, and government said it planned to transition to green energy by 2025.
As such, the 2015 NDC, which should be updated this year, had addressed emissions primarily from forests and energy consumption.
Meanwhile, though Guyana and the APNU+AFC government has championed a green economy, the Office for Climate Change(OCC) has to date not said anything about Exxon’s flaring or its impact on this country’s climate change commitments or policies crafted.
Instead, despite multiple attempts to contact her, and after saying that she was busy with meetings and would speak at a later time, the OCC’s Director Janelle Christian said that she has no comment.
“I spoke with Ms Christian and she has advised that she has no comments at this time,” OCC’s Communications Specialist Yasmin Bowman told this newspaper last week.
Guyana’s Department of Energy has weighed in on the issue and its Director Dr Mark Bynoe said that the issue has to be looked at holistically. Bynoe said that he endorses everything the EPA Director has said on the issue and echoed that ‘life is about balance’. He said that this country’s current deforestation and sustainability programmes cushions the impact of the flaring on the environment.
“Life is about balance. To realise the Green State Agenda one must have the financial wherewithal. A green agenda is not a costless agenda as we would have seen in terms of the estimated cost to construct the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Power Plant, or the Hope Wind Farm or the cost of electric vehicles or the cost of bringing natural gas to shore to be used as a transitional fuel and HFOs [Heavy Fuel Oil] are phased out,” Bynoe told Stabroek News in response to questions on the impact of the flaring on Guyana’s climate change commitments.
“The government has been on record as saying it intends to utilise the returns from oil and gas to more aggressively pursue a green development agenda, consistent with what other countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Aruba would have done,” he added.
Pointing to action on deforestation and other climate change mitigation measures this country has taken, Bynoe said that persons must also take those into consideration when looking at the fossil fuel impact here.
“Consideration must also be given to carbon offsets through reduced deforestation, reduced usage of heavy fuel oils, importation of more efficient vehicle fleets, and the increased usage of renewable energy, with photovoltaic being a standout feature in Guyana,” he said.
“ Life is about balance and we are striving to strike that balance; evidenced by our commitment to the world with the gifting of more than 900,000 acres of forest in the Iwokrama Rainforest Project, the expansion of the Kaieteur National Park, and the move to develop a system of protected areas,” he added.
