The final major contract for the development of the Gas-to-Energy project has been awarded, for the onshore pipeline. A joint venture of the Guyanese company, GAICO Construction and General Services Inc., and the Italian company, SICIM, secured this work from ExxonMobil Guyana.
The award for the project, titled C-6, was announced on Facebook in May by GAICO’s Chief Executive Officer, Komal Singh. Singh told OilNOW the pipeline infrastructure is already in-country at GAICO’s Nismes laydown yard on the West Bank of Demerara.
One year of installation work is expected to commence mid-July.
“This has opened up a host of new opportunities for Region 3 and Guyanese,” Singh said. He expects the project workforce of more than 100 to be constituted by at least 60% Guyanese nationals. “Because of the technical nature of the project, it will not be able to have a 100% Guyanese component,” the official said.
The pipeline will be laid mostly underground from Crane, where the offshore pipeline will land, to the Wales Development Zone, where the integrated gas processing facility will be situated. The offshore pipeline installation, to be done by Van Oord and Subsea 7, is scheduled to commence before the end of the second quarter.
The complete pipeline will transport natural gas from Exxon’s Liza field in the offshore Stabroek Block to the Wales Development Zone onshore.
The cost for the installation of the pipelines and associated infrastructure is approximately US$1 billion. Exxon and its Stabroek Block partners, Hess and CNOOC, are expected to strike a deal with the government for the recovery of this injection, through annual payments of US$55 million over the 20-year life of the Gas-to-Energy project.
Here are some photos from GAICO’s CEO, of operations at the Nismes laydown yard:
