The US Embassy in Guyana on Friday disclosed that the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the Guyana Civil Defence Commission (CDC), with support from the United States Department of State’s Energy and Mineral Governance Programme (EMGP), have commenced a six-month series of joint activities to assist the South American country in the development of a reliable national response system for oil spills. Those efforts will also seek to enhance the CDC’s maritime oil spill prevention, planning, and response capabilities.
In fact, a virtual risk assessment workshop is scheduled for this month to build upon the progress Guyana has already made with the development of its National Oil Spill Contingency Plan and oil spill response capabilities. OilNOW understands that the USCG facilitators will guide Guyanese participants through an assessment of possible oil spill scenarios to identify the most likely and most consequential scenarios. The results will be used to identify possible improvements and update Guyana’s National Oil Spill Contingency Plan.
Other activities in 2022 will include virtual exercise programme management training and in-person exchanges to observe oil spill response exercises.
The US Embassy said this partnership is part of the continued U.S. support for energy governance and commitment to regional security to help Guyana build its disaster response capabilities.
OilNOW previously reported that the National Oil Spill Response Plan was drafted in 2018 by the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) and further strengthened by a working group that was formed in January 2019. It was led by the CDC. The National Oil Spill Contingency Plan was subsequently handed over to the PPP/C Government on October 02, 2020.
The final Plan was developed as a result of several comprehensive consultations, reviews, testing and support from national stakeholders along with international partners such as the United States Coast Guard and the International Maritime Organization.
The National Oil Spill Response Plan (NOSRP), as well as the National Oil Spill Committee (NOCS) to support contingency planning and lead the policy direction of the management of national oil spill events across Guyana, was activated in January 2021.
