To further build its capacity to effectively monitor activities offshore Guyana, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will soon set up is own Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system.
“What we are trying to do here is to set up our remote capabilities so rather than all of us being there, onboard 24/7, we can have a dashboard here set up with internet connectivity so you can see real-time what is happening onboard,” said the EPA’s Executive Director Khemraj Parsram in an interview with the News Room on Wednesday.
With that system, the EPA would not have to depend on the information that is trickled down from the operators in the Stabroek Block and instead rely on direct data that is captured on the MRV system.
And with ExxonMobil’s Guyana subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), having every intention to bring a state-of-the-art fibre optic cable system to shore, the EPA Director said when that comes on stream, it will further boost the Agency’s monitoring capacity.
“We have to get the network system and computers in place…We are currently in engagement with the operator, EEPGL, to see how we can bring that forward and rest assured, I want this done soon so by early next year I’d seen we should have something to start with,” the EPA Director noted.
Aside from that development, the Director pointed out that the Agency is focused on building and strengthening its human capacity for monitoring as well.
The EPA currently has a six-member Petroleum Monitoring Unit trained to capture data and conduct independent verification on the oil vessels.
His predecessor, Dr. Vincent Adams, had worked along with the World Bank to develop a 36-member Petroleum Unit of highly skilled officers to streamline the EPA’s monitoring duties of the oil and gas sector. But this did not kick-off as planned.
Now, the EPA is slowly developing that Unit; nine new members are slated to come on board in the coming weeks, the Director added.
The EPA was allocated a total of $609 million in the 2021 National Budget and that huge sum will help the Agency bring into fruition many of the development plans in the works, Parsram said.
