Government does not expect that there will be any oil spills when ExxonMobil begins drilling offshore Guyana, but will be prepared if any occur, Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman said on Thursday.
Speaking at the Ministry of Natural Resources’ first stakeholder engagement session at the University of Guyana (UG), Trotman said in response to a question on the issue, “Only today [Thursday] we had a very long presentation on this very matter.” He explained that in the event of such an actuality, the company itself is obligated, by contract and its own laws elsewhere, to be the first respondent. “Exxon is obligated, the CDC [Civil Defence Commission] has already starting gearing up and the CDEMA [Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency]…,” he added, while pointing out that training is also being done with the US Coastguard.
