TriStar Inc has announced that it has received all the regulatory approvals to move ahead with a planned state- of-the-art shorebase facility, which it says will be operated to international safety, security, and environmental standards.
“TriStar has received all the regulatory approvals required for the construction of the WDSB [West Demerara Shore Base],” a company representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sunday Stabroek when asked for an update on the project.
Krishna Persaud, Chief Executive Officer of TriStar, is leading a delegation to the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), which begins tomorrow and ends on Wednesday in Houston, Texas, and there it is expected that he will tell of plans for the 70-acre site at Versailles, located on the West Bank of the Demerara River.
Persaud said that the company has assembled “a blue chip team” of highly qualified individuals and companies with vast experience in building and managing ports for the oil and gas industry.
“TriStar’s presence at the OTC is indicative of its commitment to provide a world-class shore base facility to support the expansion of the Guyanese oil industry,” the company representative stated.
“When completed, the project will be a dedicated oil and gas shorebase with six berths. It will be operated to international standards, including ISO 45001, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, as well as ISPS port security standards. The shore base will be operated to the highest international Health, Safety, Security and Environmental (HSSE) standards. As a dedicated oil and gas facility, the WDSB will allow for optimal control of logistics and management of HSSE,” the company representative added.
The WDSB is bounded on the east by the Demerara River, on the south by an outfall channel, on the west by residential and commercial properties as well as the West Demerara Public Road and on the north by the Cheddi Sawmill.
With construction of the facility set to start later this year and revetment works in process, it is anticipated that the project will be completed by the third quarter of 2023.
“The project site offers the advantage of being contiguous, which allows for better control of logistics, allowing tenants to conduct all operations without ever having to leave its perimeter or cross public roads which comes with safety risks. In addition, the West Bank Versailles area is not congested with traffic, houses and businesses,” the representative informed.
In addition, the TriStar official said that the WDSB “will also mean more competition in the shorebase services landscape which will lead to lower prices for companies engaged in offshore exploration and development activities, this ultimately redounds to the benefit of the Guyanese economy.”
It was noted that while Guyana Shorebase Inc (GYSBI) is seeking to expand to intake more work, TriStar hopes that its project will be complementary. “Being located up the Demerara River means the facility it is not subject to coastal wave action. Its location is also just opposite existing development: Guyana Shore Base Inc (GYSBI), which together with the WDSB, could create a sustainable economic cluster.”
Following the removal of a large swathe of mangroves from the Versailles site this year, harsh criticisms and concerns raised about the environment and possible flooding.
Government had defended the removal of the mangroves, underscoring that the mangrove removal on the western side of the Demerara River was necessary in the scheme of plans for developing that area like the eastern side, so as to cater not only for the oil and gas sector but its holistic development agenda.
Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill has said that measures were being put in place to protect residents against flooding and that “with development comes changes,”
Edghill had added that there are infrastructural developments that are required to facilitate and properly service what is taking place in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone. In particular, he said that the development on the West Demerara to facilitate the “new wave of development coming to Guyana” would require the removal of mangroves. “At some stage, mangroves will be displaced,” he said, “Mangroves will have to be removed.”
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has also underscored development needs and lauded the project but has emphasised that investors must respect laws and policies governing the environment and all other areas.
The company in late June announced that it had begun stockpiling sheet piles for revetment works.
Then Project Manager Narendra Sukhdeo had told Stabroek News in an interview that the revetment works were catered for and that the sheet piling was evidence of that commitment.
He had also explained that the project capitalisation is pegged at between US$100-150 million and when completed would see the employment of about 250 to 300 persons in the first phase.
“The Versailles shore base will stimulate the overall economic development of West Bank, Demerara. TriStar’s vision is to develop a ‘win-win’ shore base project that aligns with the goals of the Government of Guyana and to also produce substantial socioeconomic benefits to the West Bank Demerara region,” Sukhdeo said, explaining the project’s intent.
With many of the 1,700 employees of the shuttered Wales Sugar Estate still unemployed, it is TriStar’s hope, according to Sukhdeo, that the entity can help cushion that impact from not only the provision of jobs but helping to stimulate growth.
The company representative who spoke with this newspaper reiterated the point, while adding, “The closure of the Wales Sugar Estate in 2016 has led to some economic dislocation in communities along the West Bank. By creating economic opportunity, the WDSB has the potential to resuscitate these communities. In addition to creating hundreds of direct jobs, the WDSB will utilize a supply chain of Guyanese suppliers and Guyanese subcontractors. This is in keeping with TriStar’s stated commitment to the people of Guyana.”
TriStar, he said, is also committed to adhering to the Local Content Policy of the Government of Guyana and local content legislation, when passed into law. To this end, the company said that it “has already engaged Guyanese contractors and is in discussions with other Guyanese contractors with the view of maximizing local content in the development and operational phases,” he added.
The WDSB is the brainchild of Guyanese-American Persaud, who is TriStar’s founder and sole shareholder. He had said that he “was born just a few miles away from the project’s Versailles location.”
After leaving Guyana as a teenager, Persaud enjoyed a successful career in the United States as a stock market investor and real estate developer. Having taken two companies public on the NYSE and NASDAQ stock exchanges, he “is now focused on bringing the WDSB to life.”
