Guyana's constitutional court agreed to hear a petition from local environmentalists to stop ExxonMobil's offshore oil production.
The case was brought by University of Guyana lecturer Troy Thomas and a tourist guide of Guyana's interior Rupununi region Quadad de Freitas, supported by local lawyers Melinda Janki and Ronald Burch-Smith.
They argue that ExxonMobil's operations in the deepwater Stabroek block threaten the rights of Guyanese to a clean environment, and run counter to the country's support for international efforts to mitigate climate change.
The case coincides with boardroom pressure on ExxonMobil from an activist hedge fund which won a third board seat today. Engine No 1 wants the company to move faster to address climate change.
The US major is currently producing around 100,000 b/d of light sweet Liza crude in Guyana, with plans to increase output eightfold by 2025.
The Guyana case, which the court has yet to set a date to hear, comes amid escalating local scrutiny over ExxonMobil's increased gas flaring at an offshore well because of recurring problems with gas compression equipment. The government fined the company $1.3mn and tightened the terms of its environmental license. Guyana is "a ticking carbon bomb," despite being a climate leader, Janki said. "Unless oil production is stopped, it will emit 3.87bn t of greenhouse gas. Guyana's petroleum production . . . appears to be driven by the demands of ExxonMobil, and not by concern for the well-being of the Guyanese people."
ExxonMobil and its partners, US independent Hess and Chinese state-owned CNOOC unit Nexen, have not commented on the case.
"Guyana is one of the world's most vulnerable countries when it comes to climate change," Janki said. "The Guyana government admits it. Last year president (Irfaan) Ali warned that Guyana is ‘particularly vulnerable' to climate change. Vice president (Bharrat) Jagdeo called climate change an ‘existential threat.'"
Guyana intends to exploit and monetize its crude resources as quickly as possible in the face of growing demands for the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable power sources, Jagdeo said in April.
