While ExxonMobil says that it expects that its current and future onshore support needs will be met by Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI), it also recognises a potential market demand even as companies continue to invest heavily in being able to provide onshore base services to operators in the oil and gas sector.
“ExxonMobil Guyana has a multi-year agreement with GYSBI, which we anticipate will meet our shore base needs for the next several years,” ExxonMobil Guyana’s Public and Government Affairs Advisor Janelle Persaud said, when asked by this newspaper about potential use of the other shore base services.
“As more projects come on stream, there is potential demand for other such facilities either by us or other operators,” she added.
Following a competitive tender process, ExxonMobil Guyana entered into an agreement with GYSBI.
Persaud explained that although GYSBI is the prime shore base facility, the company and several of its contractors also utilise John Fernandes Limited (JFL) for some operations.
“We anticipate these [GYSBI and JFL] will meet our shore base needs for the next several years,” Persaud noted but again stressed that as more projects come and other operators begin offshore drilling, the demand will likely increase.
While underscoring that its two finds so far offshore Guyana were heavy crude oil and it will now have to assess the viability of the project, the United Kingdom-based Tullow Oil has assured that it is not thinking of leaving and that it intends to have a shore base in Guyana next year.
More than likely, the provision of services for that facility will also go through competitive bidding.
Two other companies, Repsol and CGX, have also signaled plans for drilling soon and will also need shore base support services.
Only last week, businessman Stanley Ming announced that he was in partnership with the United Kingdom-based InterOil Group Ltd to develop a US$200 million oil and gas shore base at Parika, East Bank Essequibo.
The 325-acre facility, according to him, will be a place where locals will be able to rent space to provide services for the oil and gas sector.
Ming said that the partnership with the oil and gas service provider will provide capital for a housing project he had begun back in 2012 and he will use about 400 acres of the 1100 acres he owns at the area.
While the shore base is scheduled to begin construction next year, the housing facility will begin soon after and Ming said that he believes that InterOil will work with him to provide jobs at the site for locals.
“I did my research on the company too and I see they have been doing this in parts of Africa, where they are focused on local content. They have set up similar shore base service providers and in one country had over 20,000 persons employed. So the plan is not for it to only be a shore base for the company because when it starts operating, Guyanese families will be living nearby and they can also use the shore base for their own businesses,” he explained.
“It is for Guyanese families. We will train, yes, provide training and all of that. Any company that wants to set up a service providing business, we are open to providing space in the buildings which will be built. You don’t have to find a piece of land. The idea is any Guyanese, or a group of Guyanese that wants to set up, can come on our base. These guys, this is what they do. For example, they had women form a business [which] provided laundry services to the operators. It is not only for the Exxons, Repsols, Tullows, Chev-rons… it is for the welder, fabricating business, laundry, and food…you name it. One base where all the people will be; a kind of a one-stop shop,” he added.
And one week before Ming’s announcement, the Demerara Distillers Limit-ed announced that it had also entered into a partnership for the building of a shore base facility.
The joint venture, which DDL entered through its subsidiary Demerara Con-tractors and Engineering Limited (DCEL) with Trinidadian company CWSL, is to be known as Demerara Offshore Incorporated- a world class shore base facility.
“Demerara Offshore will be providing a wide range of services to the oil and gas sector that include the development of a world-class shore base facility, welding and fabrication, electrical, mechanical, instrumentation, blasting and painting, specialized coating, non-destructive testing and inspection, valve repairs, pressure testing, waste management and disposal, catering, equipment rental, and human resource development,” a statement from the company on the venture explained.
DCEL Chairman Komal Samaroo was quoted as saying that the decision was taken after “very careful consideration and evaluation of the opportunities” in the oil and gas sector.
According to the statement, Demerara Offshore will bring real value-added opportunities to Guyanese and the Guyana economy. It said through its partnerships with world-leading products and services providers, it will leverage substantial knowledge and expertise to develop Guyanese capacity and in this regard it was noted that Demerara Offshore is in the final stages of negotiations with companies worldwide, including ASCO and NSL, HB Rentals – a branch of Superior Energy of the USA, KOS Kentintrol Valves out of the UK, and Jotun Paints.
At Craig, on the East Bank of Demerara, Danco Logistical Contractors Inc. (Danco) and Consolidated Supply Management (CSM) of the UK in January signed an agreement that would see them also building and operating a shore base.
The eight-acre site at Lot 233-235 Buzz Bee Dam is expected to be transformed into a US$18 million CSM-Danco facility, which its owners hope will support oil and gas operators later this year.
Last year, Chief Executive Officer of Source One Supply Oil and Gas Marine Supplies Terry Singh said that he had submitted proposals to build an onshore oil and gas facility at Vreed-en-Hoop.
Singh had explained that the company, which is a subsidiary of Japarts, has plans to facilitate the construction of the facility near to the Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara stelling to serve the imminent oil and gas industry. He pointed out that the construction is estimated at US$120 million, for which he is hoping to form a consortium with other international companies.
“We can’t build this alone but we can form a consortium where we have 49% of shares being owned by overseas companies and let them build it. So far, we have 18 companies that have shown a lot of interest, big companies,” Singh had said, while pointing out that major companies such as TechnipFMC, the company that is currently contracted to supply ExxonMobil with all of its subsea equipment, and UK-company Piers Mudd, have expressed their interest.
