GUYANA – Newly crafted Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will see the enhancement of monitoring activities related to the oil and gas sector.

The Government of Guyana (GoG)  2024 Mid-Year Report revealed that the SOPs are awaiting final approval by the Customs and Trade Administration and will enhance the monitoring of all shore bases.

The new regulations specifically seek to beef up the “examination of outbound vessels with oil and gas related items; closure of files; and the presence of officers aboard installation vessels with helipads for the examination of cargo outbound and inbound”,  the report stated.

The accuracy of ExxonMobil Guyana’s (EMGL) daily reporting of oil production from its Stabroek Block Operations without independent meters onboard its three Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, has raised questions.

Kaieteur News Publisher, Glenn Lall had commented that Guyana’s oil could be leaving in boatloads, since the country lacked measures to independently verify the data provided by ExxonMobil.

Lall’s statement prompted Exxon to make it clear that it has no objection to Guyana installing its own meters to monitor its production activities.

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 says its FPSOs’ transfer meters meet or exceed international industry standards. The company claims the government has approved them too. Government representatives also reportedly witness the transfer meter operations, in accordance with industry best practices.

Exxxon added that the government and lifters receive representative samples as an additional layer of verification. 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.”…[+]