Oil threat to southern Caribbean

THE EDITOR: There was a recent news feature on the planned purchase of critical oil spill-capping equipment by Exxon Mobil’s operation in Guyana.

Now, not only must this critically necessary "capping stack" equipment be purchased in the shortest possible time, it must also be maintained, tested and stored in Guyana so that it can be deployed if required at very short notice.

In this regard, it is noteworthy that no other regional oil-producing country, such as Brazil, Trinidad or Suriname, has one. They simply pay a subscription to secure access to a capping stack facility in Houston, US, or some other part of the world, which will then be sent to the region if and when required.

Of course, capping stacks are massive and can weigh as much as 50 to 100 tons, which means it can take up to ten days to get one in place following a large well blowout and resultant massive oil spill. By which time, major and possibly permanent ecological damage could be done to the entire southern Caribbean, shutting down our tourism industries for many years.

Furthermore, our regional leaders need to be reminded that these massive Exxon oil wells in Guyana are 100 miles offshore in 6,000 feet of water. So, while Guyana talks about putting a capping stack system in place, nothing is really being done about it. Actually, it would appear that the Guyana Government is simply buying time on the matter.

What now needs to happen is that the TT government, along with the governments of Barbados, Grenada and St Vincent, must demand to see a viable oil spill contingency plan along with details on the actual date for when the capping stack system appropriate for the size and capacity of Guyana’s mega oil wells will be in place in Guyana.

This is of critical importance to protecting the highly important ecological assets of the entire southern Caribbean. For sure, if a deep water oil well blowout happens in Guyana on a similar scale to the BP Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, it will set the entire southern Caribbean region back by 100 years.

GREGORY WIGHT

Maraval