On Friday, April 1, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued to ExxonMobil’s subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), a Petroleum Production Licence (PPL) for the US$10B Yellowtail project in the Stabroek Block.
When granted by the Minister, in this case Mr Vickram Bharrat, such a licence must include the conditions necessary to give effect to the petroleum agreement held by the oil companies and the conditions subject to which the licence is granted.
While it is not an expressed requirement of the law, Article 13, a civil society group that includes activist Yog Mahadeo and Chartered Accountant, Chris Ram, is still appealing to the PPP Government to publish the licence. The group believes this must be done not only in name of transparency and accountability, but also so that the environmentalists and the public can play their role in monitoring the operation of the licence which is good for 20 years in the first instance and a renewal period of 10 years.
Article 13 also expressed concern about the series of new studies required per the Environmental Permit that was made public on Friday.
“We, as Article 13, defer to the civil society organisations and individuals with specialist knowledge and expertise in environmental matters but we are no less astounded to note that the so-called Permit itself requires a whole new set of studies, including the following: An updated targeted marine environmental baseline study, Benthic Habitat and Fauna Study, Fisheries Stock Assessment and Impacts, Ecosystems Services and Dependencies, and any other baseline environmental or social study as may be determined by the Agency.”
In this further regard, Article 13 said the oil companies are required to submit to the Agency for approval, a Terms of Reference (TOR) for the conduct of each of the above studies which then leads to further steps, reviews and action. Article 13 said it wonders why these are only now being sought, given that the first production licence was issued years ago and all these wells constitute the single Stabroek Block.
The group said, “We are advised that the law requires that these studies should have been carried out and their results form part of any application. We therefore consider these belated requirements farcical, meaningless and disingenuous. Is there any Guyanese naïve enough to believe that if these studies prove to be adverse and substantial, that the Permit and the Production Licence will be withdrawn?”
Article 13 in light of its aforementioned concerns repeated its request for the licence to be made public. It categorically stated that Guyanese have a right to access this information.
