Environmentalist raps Exxon

Environmentalist Simone Mangal-Joly has taken ExxonMobil, its partners and the consulting firm, ERM to task over the lack of a comprehensive fishery baseline study as part of the impact assessment for the oil giant’s Yellowtail development.

Yellowtail will be Exxon’s fourth oil extraction project in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana and is said to be its largest investment thus far. As part of the Yellowtail Project, ExxonMobil plans to drill between 40 and 67 wells for the 20-year duration of the investment. It is intended to be the largest of the four developments with over 250,000 barrels of oil per day targeted once production commences.

Based on the schedule, once approval is granted, engineering commences in 2022 and production in the latter part of 2025.

During a consultation session on the EIA for the project on November 11, Mangal-Joly spared no effort to let Exxon and the consultant, Environmental Resource Management (ERM) know of the areas that were deficient. She

…consultant say

acknowledged that while there is a fishing study in the 1300+ pages Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) document, there is no comprehensive mapping of fish nurseries in Guyana.

“It (the participatory fishing study) has no comprehensive mapping of the fish nurseries in Guyana or in neighbouring countries that might be feeding our fisheries sector. There are no indications whatsoever in any baseline study done including the marine base