Finding prospects of success in the appeal filed by the EPA to a High Court ruling ordering it to enforce the liability clause in a permit for ExxonMobil’s offshore oil operations here, Appeal Court judge, Rishi Persaud has granted the EPA and the company a stay of that order which had also provided for the suspension of the permit.
The judge said that the interest of justice warranted the grant of a stay; but he has ordered ExxonMobil’s local affiliate—Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (Esso/ EEPGL)— to lodge US$2 billion in guarantees within the next 10 days, failing which the stay order would be dismissed.
The judge said that the US$2 billion guarantee is aimed at allaying any anxiety as to impending doom as conceived by some, but was keen in pointing out that the justice of the case “clearly mandates a stay of execution.”