Georgetown – A consortium has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract to support future construction activities of the US-based oil giant, ExxonMobil.
NRG Holdings, a consortium of three local entrepreneurs, in collaboration with Jan De Nul, an international maritime infrastructure company, will design and build an 85 per cent Guyanese-owned Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase Incorporated (VESHI) on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD) at an estimated cost of US$300 million.
As a result of the agreement, ExxonMobil-Guyana will use this shore base to conduct more of its needed fabrication works here with the president of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, saying during the signing ceremony on Friday, that some of the fabrication works are already being undertaken here.
The new Vreed-en-Hoop shore base is expected to bring much-needed services to Guyana, some of which are still being provided by Trinidad and Tobago.
“VESHI allows us to bring more of the construction activities to Guyana,” Routledge said, adding “[it] will truly be a springboard for Yellowtail and future projects, helping to increase local content”.
Routledge said recently that the start-up of the Yellowtail project is expected to begin in late 2025 and to produce an estimated 250 000 barrels of oil per day from the “One Guyana” Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel that would be able to store up to two million barrels.
Exxon’s total investment in this project is pegged at US$10 billion – the single largest investment in Guyana to date.
NRG Holdings’ partner Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer said that the new shore base will come on stream by the fourth quarter of 2023 and will comprise berths, heavy-lift paths and fabrication paths.
“This increases your local content, brings down commercial shipping costs and creates a commercial area for service companies to use and bring more local content,” he said, adding that while the project has received no financial support from the Guyana government, a wider shore base development, pegged at US$600 million, is expected.
“Our project is meant to be a kick start for bigger development for the country,” he said. (CMC)