Georgetown: Businessman Terry Singh, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Source One Supply, a subsidiary of the household name JAPARTS , is of the firm view that his vision for a US$120M shore base facility could help Guyana retain much more value .
“The world will not wait on us. Hence, as Guyanese we must take our place in ensuring greater local investment and market share. This initiative is to ensure that from the outset we gain competitive advantage, local participation and content.”
Guyana’s oil reserves estimates have been pushed to over 5.5B barrels. Industry analysts believe that this provides the potential for five Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels. This means that the demands for shore base services will increase.
At the moment, Guyana’s current facilities are unable to cater 100 percent to all the existing, much less the forthcoming needs of the development projects in the Stabroek Block.
As such, Guyana’s CARICOM sister, Trinidad and Tobago, which has been in the industry for over 100 years, is being relied upon for such services by ExxonMobil and its partners. In fact, Trinidad comfortably enjoys more than 50 percent of this business.
He also believes that the project is at the heart of making local content work for Guyana. The project was first launched last year February but since then, the businessman is yet to receive government’s approval for the project.
As Singh’s project continues to be delayed, Trinidad and Tobago is already speeding up efforts to establish and refine its services to better serve the needs of Guyana’s oil industry.
In fact, Singh said during a recent visit to TT, he was amazed to see how companies are preparing themselves to tap into a range of oil and gas opportunities in Guyana.
In the meantime, locals who are trying to do the same are yet to get the government’s aggressive support.
Speaking to the details of the project, Singh noted that the shore base plan, which is also representative of a Guyanese led initiative, will be called G-Port.
The proposed location is Plantation Vreed-en-Hoop. The scale and magnitude of G-Port will be on an entirely new level; a superior provider of services and state of the art onshore oil and gas Facility that will put direct employment and capital injection into the economy.
With such a massive investment and the involvement of international parts, Singh commented that it will not only create close to 5000 indirect jobs but also serve as a platform to enhance the technical knowledge of the local workforce.
Singh shared that G-Port would be able to cater to the needs for the different phases of Exxon’s oil drilling. The project envisions providing a wide range of services which include fresh water supply, fuel storage capacity, waste management services, a factory, a beverage warehouse, pipe yard and recertification services etc. Ultimately, Singh said that it is his intention to provide as much local content as possible.
The businessman noted that it would cost approximately US$90M to US$120M to establish the structure with the exception of four specialized commodities.
He said that the US$120M budget caters for the setting up of the pier, warehousing amenities, the welding and fabrication department, the administrative building, housing and accommodation for workers, and a grand training centre.
He noted that the four specialized facilities he foresees having at the port include the fuel storage farm, the fresh water treatment plant, the mud plant and the purification oil distribution centre. The businessman noted that he is also seeking the intervention of the Government so that they can be able to operate another shore base facility in the Essequibo region.
With the government’s blessings, Source One Supply hopes to have the presence of various bodies at G-Port. He said these include but are not limited to the Guyana Police Force, the Central Immigration and Passport Office, Guyana Maritime Administration and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU).
The CEO said, “For Source One Supply, once we get the blessings of the government to start this project, we can commence in about two to three months and finish in about 26 to 30 months. I want the citizenry to understand that G-Port is not just one local Guyanese being involved. I want to incorporate or form a consortium of ‘Guyanese’ businesses; I want Guyanese to play a part in setting it up…”
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