As ExxonMobil Guyana continues to face problems with a faulty compressor system on the Liza Destiny Oil Production vessel, Opposition Leader Joe Harmon and an Opposition team met and held talks today with the President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge and a team from his company.

The meeting centred around the ongoing technical problems being faced by the company and the impact the problems may be having on oil production and the company itself. The Opposition Leader said he also raised the issue of natural gas flaring at the meeting.

Speaking to members of the media just after the meeting, Mr. Harmon said he questioned the Exxon officials about the cost attached to the repairs to the compressor system and whether those costs might have to be carried by Guyana.

He said it was explained that the costs will be borne by SBM Offshore and the manufacturer for the compressor.

“We asked Exxon to provide for us what they consider to be related costs and that will be cost outside of what SBM and MAN were actually going to be responsible for and therefore we asked them to provide that and they give a commitment that they will do so, so that we just want to give the nation the assurance that the explanation that we got from Exxon this morning, made it very clear that these equipment failure, the timeline in getting things completed, that these will not impact negatively on what we as a people in Guyana can expect out of the investment that is taking place.” Mr. Harmon said.

He said the assurances given by the Exxon team appeared to be genuine and he will hold them to the commitments made.

“They were very frank in their assessment, we have asked for certain explanations of certain things in a particular the gas-to-shore project, which they undertook to give us a full brief on”, Harmon told reporters.

Harmon said the Opposition team also questioned the company officials on how they intend to strike a balance between increasing the level of production and managing natural gas flaring.

“We get the sense that what they are saying is that they get to the levels that are anticipated in the permits within three months and they are working to at least see if they can bring it to that level of production with a minimum amount of flaring to that point. We have made it clear that we believe that there should be no flaring other than the permitted limits”, the Opposition Leader said.

Mr. Harmon noted that the company’s top brass expressed their disappointment in the performance of the equipment.

“And what we said was you being disappointed is not enough for us’, he noted.

The Opposition is insisting that the issues be resolved as a matter of urgency and production be safely returned to optimum levels.

Last evening, the company announced that it has ramped up production to between 100,000 to 110,000 barrels of oil per day even as it continues to address the problem with the damaged compressor.

According to the company, the current production levels were defined after careful consideration of safety, environmental, technical, and economic factors as well as discussions with the relevant government agencies on the best path forward while repairs and upgrades are ongoing.

Last week, the company announced that it was forced to reduce oil production to just 30,000 barrels of oil per day after more problems were noticed with a reinstalled compressor system that was recently repaired.

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