Following an announcement by ExxonMobil yesterday that it was proceeding with its Liza Phase Two Development, Head of the Energy Department, Dr. Mark Bynoe, said that the approval for ExxonMobil to move ahead with the development was granted on a number of conditions and confirmatory studies.
During a press conference held yesterday afternoon at the Ministry of the Presidency, Dr. Bynoe said, “Some of the more important conditions relate to the establishment of a Regional Capping Stack or other solution to ensure that a Capping Stack can be deployed within five days of a well control event with loss of containment; improving the targeted availability of the overall production system of the Liza Phase Two FPSO to between 98% and 99%; identifying potential cost savings synergies between Liza Phase One and Lisa Phase Two; and the Stabroek partners entering into a Decommissioning Security Agreement.”
He said, too, that the approval was granted on the condition that the Stabroek Block operators will conduct Annual Third-Party Auditing on their Drilling Operations that would be consistent with Good International Oil Field Practice (GIOFP) and its own Operations Integrity Management System (OIMS).
ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) will also be required to follow the required practice in the US Gulf of Mexico in calculating “Worst Case Discharge” and to validate the assumptions and calculations by obtaining an independent assessment to develop an estimate of the flow that would result from an open hole well control event with loss of containment.
Dr. Bynoe said that this independent assessment will then be used as the basis for the Oil Spill Response Plan and oil spill modeling.
