With the aim of ensuring that all staff are equipped with the necessary skills to effectively respond to an off- shore oil spill, ExxonMobil Guyana recently conducted an exercise to field test its spill-response equipment, processes, and team readiness.
“Our approach to emergency response is to prevent, prepare and practice. Prevention is our primary objective but training for potential scenarios is also an important component of that approach,” ExxonMobil Guyana President Alistair Routledge said in a statement issued by the company on Tuesday.
He added, “Through robust training and exercises, utilising advanced technology, we ensure our response teams and stakeholders understand their roles and responsibilities and are ready to respond.”
During the exercise which had several objectives, the members of the team were tasked with familiarising themselves with mobilisation and the deployment of booms and skimmers in addition to the operation of dispersant application devices offshore.
“The aim is to ensure readiness to respond in the unlikely event of an offshore oil spill, utilising available resources such as in-country personnel, vessels, and response equipment stored in Guyana,” ExxonMobil Guyana noted.
The objectives include confirming the state of readiness to transfer emergency kits onto a vessel; safely deploying a containment boom and skimmer package; utilising support vessels to deploy equipment in open water; and familiarising vessel crew with boom operations in open water.
