ExxonMobil could shut valves to avoid oil spills in case of military aggression

Last Updated on Friday, 21 March 2025, 21:08 by Writer

ExxonMobil Guyana on Thursday sought to assure Guyanese that preparations are in place to shut down operations in the Stabroek Block to avert an oil spill should Venezuela ramp up its aggression against oil exploration and production in Guyanese waters.

“On some of the subsea equipment, those subsea trees have valves and what that means is that we can close all of those subsea wells using that tree equipment if we needed to. Like we are always able to stop production should we get the information that something might be happening that would require us to do so,” ExxonMobil Guyana’s Projects Manager Rebecca Cvikota said.

Her response came against the backdrop of the March 1 incursion into Guyana’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by a Venezuelan military patrol vessel that spent four hours in the section of the Stabroek Block informing production and drilling vessels that they were in Venezuelan waters that are in dispute with Guyana and yet to be delimited.

During a question-and-answer segment at a public consultation on the proposed Longtail project, she said the company was ready to shut off valves if it received information about a serious threat to its assets in the Stabroek Block in Guyana’s EEZ.

Asked about safety of crew members aboard oil exploration and production vessels if a foreign warship attacks or boards a vessel, Ms Cvikota said the crews were trained to respond in such circumstances. “There are protocols in place and that’s part of the crews’ training about what the actions would be,” she said, declining to provide details for security reasons.

The ExxonMobil official stressed that “production takes second seat” to the number one priority of safety. She said the operations could be shut down to ensure the safety of people, environment and the community.

Current projections are that production at Longtail would begin in 2031.

Despite assurances that an oil spill was highly unlikely due to the several layers of safety, the ExxonMobil officials said the Guyana government would be responsible for coordinating with Caribbean countries due to the fact that the tide moves westward.