With two platforms in the Atlantic producing oil in excess of nameplate capacity, a third set to come on stream shortly and dozens of exploratory wells to be sunk in this frenetic drive to extract petroleum, the government and its regulatory authorities will come under increasing pressure to be vigilant and to be able to respond to a crisis.
Aside from the irresponsibility of not having a depletion policy for the extraction of oil given the climate peril facing the planet, the PPP/C government has shown little recognition of the vast danger posed to the country’s Atlantic ecosystem and that of its neighbours. The case wending its way through the Guyana Court of Appeal might settle the issue of indemnification by ExxonMobil for its operations offshore but even that will be little comfort when account is taken of what could potentially go wrong particularly as the government and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) here operate as if they are investment partners with Exxon et al in the Atlantic jamboree rather than guardians of the country’s interests.
A string of spills recently has underlined how things can go badly wrong right in this region and how regulatory bodies like the EPA can be commandeered to operate against the interest of the country.
On July 26, Mexican state company, Pemex sought to downplay an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico this month, saying it was quickly fixed and less serious than academics had calculated.
According to Reuters, Pemex has been under intense pressure from non-governmental organizations and researchers from the country’s top university to explain an oil spill recently detected from satellite images.
Pemex CEO Octavio Romero told reporters during a press conference that the leak first detected internally on July 3 was much smaller than reports – and completely fixed by July 10.
Researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) had backed Greenpeace and other non-governmental organizations that first published the satellite images. Having analyzed the direction of ocean currents, Gabriela Gomez, one of the UNAM academics, said in a statement the slick would probably head east-northeast and eventually reach the Gulf coast in Veracruz or Tamaulipas states or the United States.
Researchers at UNAM’s Institute of Geography and its National Earth Observation Laboratory calculated the patch of oil was a whopping 467 square kilometers (180 square miles) in size – equivalent to about 140 soccer fields.
Reuters said that Greenpeace had calculated a similar size; Greenpeace also noted there had been other oil spills of varying quantities from Pemex’s vast oil and gas infrastructure.
Pemex issued a statement last week saying only 58 cubic metres (2,048 cubic feet), or 365 barrels of oil, escaped from two small leaks that would have affected an area of 0.06 square kilometers.
Even more serious, on July 7th, two workers died after a raging fire broke out at an offshore platform run by Pemex just off the southern edge of the Gulf of Mexico.
In posts on Twitter, Pemex said it had accounted for all other workers and said oil production had taken a major hit from the blaze.
Video circulating on social media showed the massive platform and its pipelines engulfed in flames as nearby boats sought to douse the fire with hoses, Reuters reported.
Earlier in the day, Pemex said six people had been injured in the fire, which it said started at the Nohoch-A platform and then spread to a compression platform.
What made these incidents even more chilling is the broadly held view that Mexico’s regulator is being impeded by the Lopez Obrador government from discharging its responsibilities.
Reuters reported on July 12th that Mexico’s oil regulator had shelved plans to impose at least three fines against Pemex for violations at the country’s most promising new fields. This, the news agency said was derived from two dozen previously unreported documents and confirmed by three sources.
It said it was the latest sign of a weakened regulator, which, after government-backed changes in the leadership, lets Pemex operate with fewer restrictions in order to help reach the Mexican President’s ambitious production goals.
Reuters said that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s government replaced the head and a senior official of the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), who had challenged the state company, with former Pemex officials between August and November.
There are definite parallels between Mexico City and Georgetown when one considers Mr Vincent Adams’ sacking by the PPP/C government as Head of the EPA and the unwillingness to have fines imposed on Exxon.
Since the leadership changes at the Mexican regulator, Reuters said that the three sources said senior officials had told them on two separate occasions, when discussing the drafts, that they should no longer fine Pemex.
Two other sources at the regulator added that they were also instructed verbally by the same senior officials to “support” the state energy company in reaching the production goals set by the government.
Pemex, the regulator, the energy ministry and the president’s office did not respond to detailed questions and several requests by Reuters for comment.
At all three fields, Reuters said that the regulator had planned to fine Pemex for drilling wells without the correct permits; in Ixachi and Quesqui, it also found other violations – including some that led to excessive amounts of natural gas being burnt off.
One picture, added as supporting evidence for the Ixachi fine, showed a huge column of black smoke rising from an open-pit flare where gas and other hydrocarbon products were being deliberately destroyed due to a lack of infrastructure, Reuters said.
In one Pemex document dated August 31 last year and seen by Reuters, a Pemex official wrote to the regulator that some “emergency” measures like drilling a well at Ixachi without permit were “technically and economically justified for the benefit of the Mexican state”.
Before Lopez Obrador’s government replaced the leadership at the regulator, Pemex had been fined at least three times for violations at Ixachi and Quesqui, Reuters said. Until the leadership changes, the regulator was widely considered the last independent agency trying to keep checks and balances on Pemex.
Then on July 20, some 1,200 barrels of crude oil spilled on Ecuador’s northern coast, after a tank of state-owned Petroecuador surpassed its maximum capacity, contaminating a four-kilometer-long stretch of beach, authorities said.
The incident took place at Petroecuador’s Esmeraldas maritime terminal when a tank exceeded its 188-barrels capacity and started spilling the crude into a containment pool, which could not hold the hydrocarbon volumes either, causing crude to slip into the beach.
Half of the crude spilled did leave Petroecuador’s facilities, tainting about four kilometers of Las Palmas beach, company official Armando Ruiz said at the press conference, Reuters reported.
Much closer to home and in an incident that will have much resonance here, Trinidadian fishermen were earlier this month not able to pursue their livelihoods after an oil slick reached the shoreline in Fullerton, Erin and parts of Point Fortin.
Fishermen spotted oil deposits in the water off Cedros and began reeling in their nets. However, according to the Trinidad Express, the following morning, boats on the shoreline were covered in the thick crude.
Heritage Petroleum Company acknowledged the spill but has not yet addressed the concerns of the fishermen. President of the Fullerton Fishing Association, Paula Buckmire said the fishermen were losing at least TT$3,500 a day, along with equipment damaged by the spill.
Then this week, Canada’s Imperial Oil, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, spilled crude oil into a process-water lagoon at its Mahihkan plant in northern Alberta, contaminating a flock of geese, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) said on Wednesday.
Reuters said that the spill of around six barrels of oil, which took place on Monday, is the latest environmental lapse by the oil sands company. Earlier this year toxic tailings water had been seeping for months from Imperial’s Kearl mine, and a second separate leak occurred in February, Reuters added.
The signs are there all around of what can happen in Guyana’s waters. The desktop exercises by the government and the Civil Defence Commission and limited simulations using booms to contain a spill will not cut it. An independent EPA – untethered from government control is needed – along with increased spending on preparedness and human resources to respond to any spill.
