As part of its preparations to engage in exploration activities in the Kaieteur Block, offshore Guyana, ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), has submitted an application to Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for environmental authorisation.
Having reviewed the company’s drilling programme for exploration and its appraisal of 12 wells, the EPA has concluded that there is no requirement for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
“In accordance with Section 11(2) of the Environmental Protection Act, CAP 20:05, Laws of Guyana, the application for the project listed above has been screened by the Agency to assess the potential environmental impacts. It has been determined that the project will not significantly affect the environment or human health. It is therefore, exempt from the requirement of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA),” the notice from the EPA read.
Nonetheless, the public notice published in Monday’s Guyana Chronicle states that in the interest of sound environmental management, the agency will require the preparation and submission of an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the project.
The EMP, the notice states, will assess any possible impacts on the environment and/or human health, and detail specific mitigation measures to be undertaken in order to ensure that the proposed project is implemented in an environmentally-sound and sustainable manner.
The EPA is asking anyone who feels they may be affected, “to lodge an appeal against the Agency’s decision (EIA not required) with the Environmental Assess-ment Board within thirty (30) days of the date of the publication of this notice.”
Appeals and comments can be sent to The Chairman of the Environmental Assessment Board via email at eabguyana21@gmail.com
Last August, the company delayed a drilling decision for a second well in the Kaieteur Block, offshore Guyana, in order to conduct additional data analysis.
Westmount Energy Limited had cited Ratio Petroleum, which owns a 25% stake in the offshore block, as saying that the date for elective nomination of the prospect target has been extended by seven months to March 22, 2022.
Westmount noted that the original Kaieteur second well prospect nomination date was August 22, 2021, with any drilling consequent to this decision to start within nine months of the nomination date.
It also informed that the Kaieteur Block partners agreed to the decision to delay the nomination date, “to facilitate continuing analysis by the operator and integration of extensive multi-play drilling results and comprehensive data collection programs into regional petroleum system models and the prospect nomination decision.”
In 2020, Exxon, the operator, made a non-commercial oil discovery at the Tanager-1 well in the Kaieteur block, failing to replicate a string of successes made in the nearby Stabroek offshore block, where it has so far found more than nine billion barrels of oil.
The Tanager-1 exploration well, drilled by the Stena Carron Drillship, was the deepest well drilled in the Guyana-Suriname Basin to date. It was spudded on August 11, 2020, eventually reaching a total depth of 7,633 meters.
Following the Tanager-1 discovery, Hess increased its working interest in the Kaieteur Block from 15% to 20% by acquiring a 5% working interest from Cataleya Energy Limited (CEL). The Kaieteur Block is currently operated by an ExxonMobil subsidiary, Esso Production & Exploration Guyana Limited (35%). Westmount holds approximately 5.4% of the issued share capital of Cataleya Energy Corporation, the parent company of CEL, and around 0.7% of the issued share capital of Ratio Petroleum Energy Limited Partnership, the ultimate holding entity with respect to Ratio Guyana Limited.
