Noting a need for more shore base facilities to service the oil sector’s expansion, Guyana’s Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill said the Government has given ‘no-objections’ to eight such projects, in addition to expansion works at the Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI).
Mr. Edghill made this statement at a GYSBI job fair on Saturday at Enmore, according to Guyana’s Department of Public Information.
“Most of the applications for shore bases are in port Demerara,” Mr. Edghill said. “We used to have 7-9 ships… Right now, the average is about 52 per week. Now, that’s just with 1 [floating production, storage and offloading] FPSO. When the next FPSO comes onstream, the anticipation from [Maritime Administration Department] MARAD; they have told me the traffic will go up between 70% to 80%. These ships need to have places to berth.”
Growing ‘Armada of vessels’ offshore Guyana will require large shorebase support
He said even now, the projected marine traffic increase only applies to ExxonMobil’s Stabroek block operations. He expects other oil block operators to make commercial discoveries and develop them.
“So, you’ll need more ports. We will need definitely more laydown yards. We will need more warehouses. We will need more berthing facilities for ships coming in… GYSBI cannot alone handle everything that will be happening.”
Mr. Edghill said most of the applications are for ports in the Demerara River. However, he expects ports will be developed in all three of Guyana’s main rivers in the coming years. This is expected to result, not only from investments in oil support services, but to facilitate the government’s ambitious agenda for Guyana to provide agricultural produce for the entire Caribbean region.
He said what this translates to is employment for Guyanese, pointing out that shore base facilities in one area does not mean that opportunities for employment will be confined to people living nearby. With the government’s aggressive infrastructural agenda, which includes highways and bridges, he said Guyanese will find it convenient to travel to jobs not situated close to their homes.
Big ramp up in Guyana offshore activities see Exxon looking to expand shore base services
Mr. Edghill did not identify the 8 intended shore base facilities by location or company. But as early as September last year, the country’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had indicated that it received several applications for such facilities. Those identified were applications from Tristar Incorporated, JOP Property Holdings Incorporated, Baker Hughes Guyana Company Inc., and ISIKA Shore Base Inc.
The EPA also later received an application from NRG Holdings, a consortium of local companies, for the establishment of the Vreed-en-Hoop Port Facility.
Multi-billion-dollar Vreed-en-Hoop port facility gets greenlight from EPA
Grand Canal Industrial Estates Inc. (GCIE), a subsidiary of CGX Energy Inc., is also moving forward with a Deep Water Port facility in Berbice.
