Payara

Payara Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Disclosure Meetings

January 2020

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is conducted to understand the potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts of an oil and gas project. The EIA addresses a range of environmental and socioeconomic topics including ecological balance and ecosystems, water resources, air quality, noise and vibration, employment and livelihoods, community health and wellbeing and many more. The EIA process is completed in the early stages of the project and must be approved prior to issuance of the environmental permit for a given project. EIA approvals and environmental permits have been secured for Liza Phase 1 and Liza Phase 2 projects. The Payara EIA process is underway and is on track for approval of the EIA and issuance of the environmental permit in 1Q20.

There are many parties involved in the EIA process including ExxonMobil, the Guyana EPA, the Guyanese public, and our Consultants (ERM with EMC and GSEC), that facilitate the EIA process.

There are two opportunities for the Guyanese public to participate in the EIA process in person: the scoping meetings and the disclosure meetings. Scoping meetings are held to provide a description and details of the proposed project and share the EIA plan with the public and collect their input. During the scoping meetings, the six coastal Regions have the opportunity to learn about the specific studies that are planned such as bird surveys, water quality testing, turtle tagging, and aquatic flora and fauna baseline studies. The disclosure meetings are held in the same coastal Regions after the studies have been performed and are used to share the findings and conclusions of the EIA. All stakeholders have the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback during both the scoping and disclosure meetings as well as by reviewing the EIA at their local Regional Democratic Councils sand providing feedback directly to the EPA.

Participants at a Payara EIA Disclosure Meeting in 4Q19

Payara Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Disclosure Meetings

The EIA disclosure meetings for Payara were held during 4Q19 and the team took the opportunity to provide a more interactive setting. The disclosure meetings consisted of booth displays to explain the different aspects of the EIA ranging from oil spills to fishery to coastal sensitivity mapping. Nearly 200 Guyanese attended the Region 4 (Georgetown) Open House, engaging with local and international SMEs on the various EIA topics. This “open house” style format allowed the public to more comfortably ask questions and participate in the EIA process. The team did a great job effectively engaging the community and progressing the Payara EIA!