ExxonMobil Guyana President Alistair Routledge said the recently arrived capping stack in Guyana, which is currently stationed at the Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI), is expected to be relocated to the Vreed-en-Hoop Shore Base Inc. (VEHSI) at some point.
The capping stack is one of only 13 in the world and one of just two in Latin America. Designed and built by Trendsetter Engineering and owned by Oil Spill Response Ltd., the capping stack is a key part of a larger emergency response and spill containment toolkit, intended for use in the event of a spill.
At an October 9 press conference in Georgetown, Routledge said “At the end of June, we took over operations at the Vreed-en-Hoop shorebase. by making that kind of commitment to long term investment in critical infrastructure, it’s enabling us now to do more fabrication and assembly work of project materials, particularly the subsea equipment.”
Routledge highlighted that this work often requires deeper water access and the use of heavy equipment, and VEHSI is designed with a higher load capacity at the quayside and other work areas to handle these demands.
The official named the VEHSI facility as an example of local content. “[For] these kinds of commitments and the collaboration, I think, the [Local Content] Act has provided a framework of clarity, but we were already on that journey.
VEHSI was developed in partnership with a group of local businessmen to support ExxonMobil’s Yellowtail project, which is expected to achieve first oil in 2025. Routledge said Saipem, one of ExxonMobil’s contractors, is the first to use the shore base to support offshore installation activities.
Regarding the progress of the project, Routledge said “Phases 1 and 2 have been handed over. Phase 3 includes other facilities and areas which will be used, for example, for storage of the capping stack.”
However, he said this wait for the final phase is not impacting the fabrication and assembly work that ExxonMobil planned for this year.
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Tags: Guyana, Alistair Routledge, Oil & Gas, VEHSI, ExxonMobil
