EPA seeks public input for looming gas-to-shore impact study
With the impact assessment for the US$900 million Wales gas-to-shore project imminent, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday invited public submissions on the scope of the study for the project, which is intended to begin operations in 2024.
In a public notice, the EPA noted that the project, with attendant onshore and offshore components, could have possible effects on the environment, including impacts to marine water quality, air quality, marine and terrestrial flora and fauna, socioeconomic resources, among others
As a result, it has determined that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) must be undertaken before the project is approved. The EPA said the EIA will include but not be limited to all possible alternatives studied, effects on the environment, and assessment of risks, and may lead to further optimization of the proposed project. As a result, members are invited within 28 days of the EPA notice to make written submissions to the agency, setting out those questions and matters which they require to be answered or considered in the EIA.
ExxonMobil’s local affiliate, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), which submitted an application to the EPA for environmental authorisation for the project, notes in the summary that it entails the construction and operation of a 12inch pipeline, approximately 220 kilometers long, from the Liza Phase 1 and Liza Phase 2 Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessels in the offshore Stabroek Block, to an onshore natural gas liquids (NGL) and natural gas processing plant (NGL Plant) located at Wales.
The pipeline is expected to transport up to approximately 50 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of dry gas to the NGL Plant while maximum flow of pipeline is approximately 120 MMSCFD. The NGL plant onshore will remove propane, butane and pentanes+ liquids with the ability to be sold; and treat remaining gas to specifications required by the power plant, including dehydration and pressure letdown of gas.
According to the summary, some 20 sites were evaluated based on a number of criteria, including topography and elevation, soil conditions, biodiversity, socioeconomic factors, site access, and pipeline routing. It adds that of the sites assessed, the Wales area, approximately 23 km upriver on the west bank of the Demerara River on abandoned sugarcane fields, was determined to be the most favourable location “based on constructability, environmental, socioeconomic, and biodiversity perspectives.”
According to the summary, the project may require a temporary material offloading facility (MOF) and this may be established on the West Bank Demerara. This will be used for offloading of heavy modules and imported material or equipment.
It was stated that the power plant will be owned and operated by the Government of Guyana, which may consider alternative options of ownership.
“The Project lifecycle will include engineering, construction, commissioning, operations and decommissioning. The engineering phase will include design, Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED), and detailed engineering. The construction phase will include procurement, fabrication and construction, installation, commissioning and startup. Operations will follow commissioning and startup, and will be the longest phase of the Project with a duration of at least 25 years. Startup of the facilities is expected to occur in 2024,” the document states.
The summary of the project can be viewed on the EPA’s website or uplifted at the EPA’s Offices in Linden, Whim or Sophia, Georgetown, at the reasonable cost of photocopying.
EEPGL will pay for the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) and other studies. It will also be selecting the consultant for the project since, according to this country’s current EPA Act, the contractor has to select the consultant from an EPA-approved list of persons.
At a forum in April, a team working on the project, led by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, it was explained that the pipeline aspect of the project would be funded.
Head of the gas-to-shore task force Winston Brassington said that a firm, ERM (Environmental Resources Management), would be doing the ESIA. “They have been doing work for quite a while with the EPA,” Jagdeo said.
“[In] December we gave the green light on the three studies… Fugro is for the geotechnical and geophysical and ERM for the environmental. They were supposed to be contracted and it was supposed to take place after December,” he added.
It is unclear if ERM was selected via competitive tendering.