ExxonMobil not opposed to Guyana installing own meters at pumps
…says will adhere to any regulations govt puts in place
Kaieteur News – ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) on Thursday said it is not opposed to Guyana installing its own meters on the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels currently producing oil offshore.
In a statement to the media, in response to comments made by the Publisher of Kaieteur News, Glenn Lall, EMGL, the subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation noted that representatives of government are present to witness every offshore oil lift.
Lall, in an article published on Wednesday reasoned that the operator of Guyana’s oil rich Stabroek Block has been given a free pass to take as much of the country’s oil as it needs for its offshore operations, a move that could pave the way for boatloads of undocumented crude oil to be shipped away. He pointed out that the oil giant, as per the terms of the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA), is allowed to use a reasonable amount of oil for its daily operations; however, there is no record of how much of this production is being used by the company. Exxon did not address the use of Guyana’s oil for its operations but pointed out “none of the consortium members can lift oil without a government witness present.” It also noted that government has outlined how it exercises its rights and duties to closely monitor its operations. The Ministry of Natural Resources however in a statement on Thursday said that: “The ‘production’ for use in offshore operations, as referenced in the Agreement, is not crude oil but natural gas. Most of the natural gas extracted offshore is reinjected, while a portion is processed, removing impurities, so that it is useful as fuel.”
ExxonMobil Guyana said: “the Government’s oil lifts also aren’t a mystery – they are available for anyone to read on the Ministry of Natural Resources’ website. Furthermore, despite repeated claims to the contrary, our offshore production vessels have meters, and those meters meet or exceed international industry standards. That data is also monitored by the Government,” the company stated.
Exxon argued that the FPSOs have transfer meters that meet or exceed international industry standards and are approved by the Government of Guyana. Further, it said the transfer meter operations are witnessed by government representatives, in keeping with industry best practices.
As an additional layer of verification, Exxon said representative samples are shared with the government and lifters. To this end, the oil company said, “EMGL is unaware of any regulatory regime that requires local regulators to install separate metering equipment, however we have no objection to the government pursuing an independent monitoring system and will adhere to any regulations the government puts in place.”
For his part, Lall raised concerns over the lack of independent meters to verify the company’s daily rate of production in light of Exxon refusing to allow auditors access to its raw production data. It was reported that during the audit of Exxon’s 2018 and 2020 expenses, the company refused to provide a map of the metering points on the Liza Destiny, the country’s first Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.
The auditors said the schematic would provide a visual representation of the physical flow of production as it is produced onto the FPSO, through the various types of production equipment, and into the storage tanks. ExxonMobil also bluntly refused to provide the raw production data to the audit team. To this end, the businessman reasoned, “Government is getting data that Exxon presents to them as raw data, hence they refused to give the auditors access to check the raw data on the production data at the pumps. To eliminate this issue is simple, put our own meters on each of the FPSOs, this way auditors would not have to beg Exxon to see the raw data, we would have this at our fingertips.”
