Almost years after being established, oil services company Guyana Shore Base Inc (GYSBI) has sunk over US$100 million ($20.8 billion) into its operations here and plans to invest US$50 million ($10.4 billion) in the next 12 months.
GYSBI is a consortium established in late 2016 comprising Muneshwers Limited, TOTALTEC Oilfield Services, Pacific Rim Constructors, and LED Offshore. Muneshwers is a Guyanese company while Lars Mangal, who has Guyanese roots, is the Chief Executive Officer of TOTALTEC. Pacific Rim Constructors, meanwhile, is a Russia-based company founded in 2001 by Glen Beal and Bill Davis, according to its website. Not much is known about LED Offshore and its principals.
The consortium, which is providing services to oil major ExxonMobil, this week marked its second anniversary since beginning operations in 2017, and in an exclusive interview with Stabroek News, General Manager Mark Edwards disclosed that to date, GYSBI has pumped “in excess of US$100 million” into the operations. He said that they plan to invest another US$50 million over the next 12 months.
During a tour of GYSBI’s Houston, East Bank Demerara facility, it was also revealed that the company has purchased additional land to expand its operations. Stabroek News had previously reported that Muneshwers had purchased the 28-acre Houston property from timber company, Carib-bean Resources Limited in 2014 for US$20 million. Since then, the waterfront area has expanded to 32 acres following the purchase of Eddie Vieira’s property to the north. GYSBI also purchased an additional 100 acres of land – also from the Vieiras – located east of the Houston Public Road.
“We purchased 100 acres across the road from the Vieiras and it is where we will construct a wash bay and store a lot of the pipes,” Edwards said.
He informed that the company plans to construct an access road from the waterfront base to the 100 acres facility, and the road will be equipped with traffic lights that they have also funded to ensure safety and facilitate orderly movement.
A warehouse, which will hold material and equipment that can service two Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs), is almost completed and should be operational by next month.
Containers with filters and other equipment for ExxonMobil’s Lisa Destiny FPSO, which is currently offshore, is already being stored at the Houston base. ExxonMobil aims to begin oil production by March next year.
In terms of employees, Edwards said that GYSBI currently has 288 employees in total and of that amount, 10 per cent are women. “The women work in every capacity…and we are looking to always increase those numbers,” he said. Of the 288 employees, some 272 are Guyanese, and by this next time next year, the company hopes to see that number reach 400.
GSBYI is proud of its contribution to local content and Edwards said that while there are some areas that require specialist input, they have no problems with the Guyanese employees that they hired and trained in specialty areas. “We believe in local content and you will see our workers are mostly Guyanese. We have Guyanese at every level. Our senior engineer is Guyanese and some of them have the advantage [over] expats because they know this country, they know the soil type and they give advice about what is best for an area,” he said.
“We look to Guyanese suppliers first before anything,” Edwards added.
However, he said, when items are “overly expensive” here as compared to other countries, GYSBI prefers to import the items from overseas.
“Take this computer, for example. Say we need computers and check around, you would find quotes that would put this at say, US$2,000, when everyone knows you can go on Amazon and the same computer is US$400. It is in cases like that,” he explained.
He said that GYSBI does not receive the same tax exemptions as ExxonMobil. “We pay the 14 per cent VAT just as anyone who purchases. I do not know why this thing about us being given total exemptions is being perpetuated…,” he said.
Since ExxonMobil’s oil discoveries offshore Guyana, a number of global oil majors and oil support companies have established a presence here, with local offices and other facilities secured through leases or acquisitions.
However, Edwards said, even with GYSBI’s planned expansion, the company would only be able to service ExxonMobil. “We just don’t have the capacity. We are pretty full at this stage,” he said.