Pompeo’s visit not tied to Payara permit – Bharrat
Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat says that US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s visit this week is in no way tied to permits being processed for ExxonMobil’s Payara well and that the US oil major must meet the necessary requirements and environmental standards before any approval is granted.
And while a second draft of terms of agreement for a licence for the project should be completed around the same time that Pompeo is here, there will be no influence on that process.
Bharrat said that teams from both government and ExxonMobil will today again meet to straighten issues relating to the project as environmental matters such as flaring, water dumping along with overlapping legal terms from the Liza-1 project remain outstanding.
The current review team is comprised of technical persons from the Department of Energy, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) led by international consultant, Canadian Queen’s
Counsel, Alison Redford.
“There are still some environmental concerns to be addressed and an overlapping legal issue. They are meeting again tomorrow and we are hoping that by the end of this week we can have another draft with less issues for Payara,” the minister yesterday told Stabroek News when contacted for an update.
“It has nothing, though, to do with Mr. Pompeo’s visit because whether he was coming or not, it had to be done. We had, as everyone knows, started this process before knowing of a visit by the Secretary of State…,” he added.
Government has said that Pompeo will be here on Thursday and Friday of this week.
The Minister of Natural Resources said that he has seen it suggested in the public that Pompeo’s visit is possibly linked to pressuring government to swiftly grant ExxonMobil the licence for the Payara project and he wants to rubbish that thought.
He said that the teams are working around the clock to ensure that this country is satisfied that global environmental and safety standards are met before the licence is issued.
The Irfaan Ali- led PPP/ C government announced last month that a review of the Payara Field Development Plan was initiated by the Department of Energy under the then APNU+AFC, which contracted Bayphase Oil and Gas Consultants at a sum of US$ 386,830 in December 27, 2019.
“There was a first contract extension (no cost) to July 27, 2020 and a second contract extension to September 27, 2020 with a revised contract sum of US$429,382 which represents an 11 percent increase. This review by Bayphase Oil and Gas Consultants will be completed shortly,” it explained.
Through the Ministry of Natural Resources, it added that it had decided to review the work already undertaken by the Department of Energy, so that the interest of all Guyanese is protected and in keeping with international transparency and accountability standards prior to approval being given.
Bharrat said that it was because government did not want a permit granted based on a “minister or ministers’ discretion” that it turned to the Canadian government for help and thus Redford was hired.
Highlight
Redford, he said, continues to highlight some of the current issues that still need addressing such as the dumping of thousands of gallons of reservoir water into the ocean. However, ExxonMobil has, according to Bharrat tried to argue that the dumping won’t have any significant impact and that they will address the flaring concerns.
“Most of the issues we are dealing with are issues highlighted by Alison. She brought out a lot, especially of those,” he yesterday said.
“There is still the issue of the flaring and the water dumping into the ocean. Exxon is claiming because of the depth of the ocean it won’t have an impact. And as it relates to the next FPSO ( Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading platform), they are working on remodeling so that it won’t have the issue (as with) the Lisa Destiny”, he added.
He said that Redford has completed the review process of Bayphase’s work.
A source close to the process explained that Redford has said that she will not advise on the issuance of a permit until given the EPA’s green light. “Allison has said that the EPA has to issue the permit and the EPA has to be satisfied and express that satisfaction that the company has satisfactorily met all that was required of them. She understands the importance of the issue. There is still the flaring and the thorny matter of dumping into the ocean,” the source said.
It was EPA’s Head Dr. Vincent Adams who had first raised concerns about the reservoir water dumping and had asked the company to show, through research, that there would be no impact on ocean and marine life.
Adams had also proposed a “tightening of the legal language” in the permit as it pertains to flaring so that periods of start-up flaring do not run into several months. Exxon has to date flared over 10.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas that has seen it forced to reduce oil production quotas to cushion the impact on the environment.
Adams, who holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering, MSc Degrees in Groundwater Hydrology and Geological Engineering/ Petroleum Engineering, and a BSc in Civil Engineering has said that claims must be fact and research-based as he believes that it is vital to the future generations of this country and by extension the world, that the environment must be protected.
But in the middle of the
I have to admit that my eyebrows could not be raised any higher by the initial brief reporting on Saturday afternoon by the Stabroek News of the planned visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Guyana, that “The two-day trip would be seen as an expression of confidence in the PPP/C government and a signal of deeper cooperation between the two countries.”
My first response was, who wrote this news story? Who would believe that it would really be a priority for the US Government, two months before their own elections, to visit Guyana to congratulate the newly elected government on a successful conclusion of our elections?
I am glad that the Stabroek News Sunday edition followed up with careful, extensive and critical coverage of this important news item, and also drew heavily from the swift and excellent statement issued by the Guyana Human Rights Association, titled ‘Guyana Must Stay Out of Venezuelan Politics.’
A few questions for readers, and all right thinking Guyanese, to ponder:
Why do you think ‘little’ Guyana would be a priority for the US Secretary of State to visit, two months before the US elections? Do you really think this is just about congratulating the Guyana Government on a free and fair election?
This same Secretary of State spoke at the US Republican Convention, recording his address while visiting Jerusalem. According to media reports, “No sitting secretary of state had previously addressed a national political convention in at least 75 years.” What then do we make of this visit to Guyana now, in relation to such partisan politicisation?
Florida is a very important state for the US elections, with a significant proportion of Venezuelans and Cubans hostile to the Castro and Maduro regimes. What might this visit have to do with this fact?
Why did the Government of Guyana, in August, break tradition and support Mr. Mauricio Claver-Carone, the US backed candidate, for the head of the Inter-American Development Bank (he is not from Latin America and the Caribbean, and media reports describe Mr. Claver-Carone as a deeply controversial figure who is deeply opposed to the governments of Cuba and Venezuela.)
Why, just a fortnight after the installation of the new Government of Guyana, did the US thank Guyana for endorsing the statement put out by the Lima Group that recognised Venezuela’s Juan Guaidó, who as the GHRA statement points out supports “the illegal claim on Guyana’s territory”? Has the Government of Guyana ever publicly distanced itself from this statement, and if not, why not?
What does this have to do with ExxonMobil and Payara, about which we are hearing very little? As far as we know, the Payara review is still being headed by Alison Redford, who has little direct experience on the issues to be addressed in relation to the Payara project and whose ethics have moreover been rightly questioned by the Canadian public. And why is our government, which is in the news daily about all of the corruption it is uncovering locally, silent about its continued engagement of the services of someone who was disgraced as the former premier of Alberta? Are there different rules for foreigners?
What is the Government of Guyana’s position on Venezuela – we are certainly entitled to know this in advance of the Secretary of State’s visit and should demand same
What does all this mean for regional integration in the Caribbean, which has had a sterling record when it comes to foreign policy co-ordination? Consider the fact that the US Secretary of State visited Jamaica in January 2020, joined by a few other Caribbean Prime Ministers, a bilateral visit that was criticized by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley. What do Caribbean leaders make of this visit, to the country where the CARICOM Secretariat is headquartered? We should demand their response.
Guyana is a sovereign state. Is this what sovereignty looks like?
Guyanese. We remain divided at our peril. What is good for lil boys is dead fuh crapaud. They say when the elephants play, the grass gets trampled. But these local big elephants are pawns, and if they do not come together on this most crucial issue, they will make Guyanese the trampled grass in a much bigger geopolitical game.
Let us remember the Caribbean women and others who have long been calling for the Latin American and Caribbean region to be declared a non-militarized zone of peace.
I urge Stabroek News and all newspapers to carry the GHRA statement in full.
Yours faithfully,
Alissa Trotz