Inspections of oil and gas vessels on the rise
DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, January 21, 2020
With the advent of the oil and gas sector, the Maritime Administration is exercising its regulatory duties over vessels operating within a new industry; since there has been an increase in the number of vessels contacting Guyana.
Claudette Rogers Director-General of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure made this disclosure on a recent DPI One-on-One programme.
“There has been an increase in the number of vessels calling our port and so now our inspectors are required to ensure those vessels calling at our port comply with international standards,” the Director-General related.
According to the Head of MARAD, tankers have to make contact with the regulatory body to signal their intent to offload oil and gas from the Floating, Production, Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessel. At present, the FPSO operating in Guyana’s waters is the Liza Destiny.
“They have to send that information in advance to the administration and we will verify it to see when was the last time if there were any non-compliance issues that had to be corrected, when it was corrected and what that issue was,” DG Rogers explained.
After these documents are issued, MARAD determines whether that vessel is seaworthy enough to partake in the operational exercise that is requested.
Among its widespread functions, MARAD has the responsibility to board vessels under its flag state, port state and coastal state jurisdictions to conduct inspections
Flag state refers to the duties exercised over vessels that are carrying Guyana’s national flag. Port state refers to vessels that possess the flag of a foreign country and coastal state, vessels that operate within territorial waters or those in exclusive economic zones and on the high seas.
Inspections of these vessels are in accordance with Guyana’s obligations to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) standards.
On Monday, the MV Yannis left Guyana’s waters for the USA to transport one million barrels of light crude oil.