Local consortium, PCG Incorporated says it will be in a position to offer its pipe coating services to the oil and gas industry by early 2023, in time for ExxonMobil’s fourth and largest project offshore Guyana – the Yellowtail development.
The consortium is being led by Suresh Jagmohan of S Jagmohan Hardware Supplies and Constructing Services in partnership with two foreign companies PSS and WASCO Energy. It was launched at the Marriott Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown.
Tamesh Jagmohan, one of the principals in the consortium, told Stabroek News yesterday that the investment is pegged at US$40 million and in keeping with the local content legislation 51% ownership is retained by the consortium while the foreign partners make up the remaining 49%.
“Our international partners are WASCO Energy and PSS and they are bringing a state-of-the-art plant and technology for pipe coating to Guyana which is much needed here right now. The pipe coating is integral to bringing the oil out,” Jagmohan said.
He added that the plant is temporarily slated to be set up in the compound of the Guyana Shore Base Inc (GYSBI) at Houston on the East Bank of Demerara.
“The plant will be ready for the Yellowtail Project. We will finish installing the plant and be ready for thermal testing and so on by early 2023 to be able to service the sector by then,” Jagmohan added.
Meanwhile, Roberto Gozalvez the Regional Manager of WASCO Energy said that the company will be demobilizing a plant it has in the United States to install in Guyana.
“The industrial plant, which is a state-of-the-art technology plant, is dedicated to applying thermal insulation coatings for subsea pipelines to be installed in present and future projects offshore,” he said.
Gozalvez explained that the plant will be able to also apply thermal insulation coating on the pipelines as well.
“Oil comes from the well at high temperature and the seawater …it’s about 3 degrees Celsius at 1800 metres so we need to maintain the oil at a certain temperature to assure the oil flow along the pipelines. So that’s the purpose of thermal insulation. The thermal insulation system is based on very particular polypropylene compounds mixed with hollow glass microspheres,” he said.
A report from the Department of Public Information (DPI) stated that the venture will provide in excess of 450 jobs.
“…the 450 jobs to be created from this venture will add to the thousands that have already been created by the local partners throughout Guyana. We are committed to proving employment and ensuring that our people benefit from the opportunities in this new petroleum economy,” the DPI report quoted Director of Pipe Coating Guyana (PCG) Inc. Narain Tulshi as saying.
Junior Minister of Public Works Deodat Indar also addressed the launching.
“Guyanese will benefit from this and the technical transfer of how to do pipe coating will transfer over time and I hope faster than slower.
“Here is it, a prime example of what local content and what the Local Content Legislation is driving in Guyana. It is really delivering prosperity to everybody, but you cannot sit on your hands, it is not the time for that. Guyana as you all know, I do not have to remind you all, we are at a place where we have the largest economic growth projections, 47.5 per cent GDP rise in a single year,” Indar was quoted as saying.
