Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Kemraj Parsram, said the agency is mobilising to visit the Liza Phase 2 offshore operations in order to conduct its own investigation of an oil leak that was detected on Friday.
OilNOW understands that the leak of approximately one barrel of Unity Gold crude was observed while maintenance activity was being undertaken on an offloading hose.
Unity Gold crude is typically offloaded to tankers every 4-6 days, with each lift quantified at approximately one million barrels.
Parsram said Exxon related that as soon as the sheen was observed, its response mechanism kicked in.
Exxon said the leak was isolated immediately.
According to Exxon, the sheen was perceptible approximately 20 km (13 miles) northwest of the Liza Unity floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel. A support vessel it dispatched in the area confirmed on Saturday that there was no further sign of the sheen.
The Liza Unity vessel started producing oil in February. The project is designed to produce 220,000 barrels per day.
