Local content benefits from the US$ multimillion facility at Houston were yesterday underscored by both the Guyana Shore Base Inc (GYSBI) and President Irfaan Ali, as the company commissioned additional berthing facilities pegged at US$25 million.
Not only have the two additional berths added to expand the company’s capacity to now service as many as eight vessels in a 24-hour period, in addition to its current load of two FPSOs and six rigs, but additional heavy lifting that was done in Trinidad will be moved here.
“Long before local content legislation came into being, GYSBI was the poster boy for local content. We now have 705 employees, 95 per cent of whom are locals. None of these jobs would not have been in this country without GYSBI,” Executive Director of GYSBI, Robin Muneshwer, yesterday said at the commissioning of the fourth berth.
Muneshwer said that the story of GYSBI was one of a local company taking a risk and teaming up with foreign companies to create oil and gas support service that is a “fully integrated cohesive facility.”
He was quick to point out that the developments were only made possible with ExxonMobil’s additional oil discoveries. “This exponential growth is largely fuelled by the unparalleled success Exxon has had in its exploration activities …”
ExxonMobil’s President, Alistair Routledge, informed that the company sees GYSBI’s facility as being “absolutely critical to our operations offshore.”
“It is a multiservice one stop shop” Routledge said and disclosed that last year saw some 220,000 tonnes of cargo moved through GYSBI.
He said that with the additional berths, ExxonMobil can now move additional vessels.
“In 2022, from January to November, before these two berths were commissioned, we averaged 24 vessels coming to the berths every week. In December with berths three and four, that went to over 30,” he said.
“One of the main drivers of that is the commissioning of the waste tank cleaning facility… which now we have had to do in Trinidad, but now even that is done here…” he added.
Routledge pointed out that in 2022, more than 220, 000 tons of cargo were moved through the shore base to the company’s offshore facilities. “It’s an incredible operation,” he said.
Lauding the risks taken by GYSBI investors, President Ali reflected on the time before his government took office in 2020, when the company said that its project had been stalled by the APNU+AFC government.
Ali reasoned that the two-year stall the company faced had placed the local business partners at risk of having their foreign investors walk away, and added to that, costs of materials went up.
“I am not speaking about politics, I am speaking about structure. Bad policy making is detrimental to the life of country, people and companies. Policy making is not guess work. It is targeted work. For two and half years these companies were waiting for permits. In the last two and a half years, more than $25 billion has been circulated for projects…,” he said.
“What did bad policy making cost Robin Muneshwer and the others? What can bad policy making cost the state? As a result of not approving those facilities. The investor had to incur at least 20 per cent increase in the cost of capital expenses for building this facility. Understand what that means for the investor and ROI (return on investment),” Ali added.
GYSBI is a consortium comprising Muneshwer’s Limited, TOTALTEC Oilfield Services, Pacific Rim Constructors, and LED Offshore. Its current Houston, East Bank Demerara 30-acre property, where operations began in 2017, was purchased from timber company Caribbean Resources Limited in 2014, for US$20 million.
In a 2019 interview with Stabroek News, Muneshwer had pointed to an increase from a two to a four-berth facility that would operate on a 24-hour basis at the Houston waterfront property, and it had formed part of a US$100 million planned second phase of expansion.
But in 2021, Muneshwer had told this newspaper that the APNU+AFC had stalled its permit process for some two years and it was only after the PPP/C took office that the permits were granted.
The company last year clinched an 11-year extension contract with Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), an ExxonMobil affiliate, for the provision of shore base management and operations services.
It has said that it has invested over US$300 million towards port infrastructure, real estate development, warehousing and support services; has recruited, trained, and certified more than 1,000 Guyanese for key operational positions within the industry and beyond through its affiliates; catalysed greater than US$500 million in investment in the Houston/McDoom, East Bank Demerara corridor by providing the enabling infrastructure and creating the first oil and gas activity hub in Guyana that also generated direct and indirect employment for more than 2,000 persons.
Muneshwer also reflected on the company’s journey where in 2017 it had signed a contract for eight acres, two berths and one warehouse. Today, it stands at 180 acres, 8 warehouses and four berths, with further expansions planned. While it started with five employees, GYSBI today has a workforce of 705 persons, 95 per cent of whom are Guyanese.
