Berbice Deep-Water Port, Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase projects on track for completion

– Demerara channel goes from 70m to 100m wide; depth also increased

Work is progressing on both the Berbice Deep-Water Port and the Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase, two large-scale port facility projects that, when completed, will dramatically transform the infrastructure in their respective locations.
A recent roundtable discussion brought together the heads of companies that are investors in two large-scale shore base projects being built simultaneously. One of these companies is Canadian-based CGX Energy, which was represented by its Executive Chairman, Professor Suresh Narine.

CGX is presently constructing a Deep-Water Port at the mouth of the Berbice River that will not only support oil and gas but the agriculture sector. According to Narine, work is progressing on schedule.
“In addition to being an explorer in the basin, we’ve also invested in a deep-water port, which is well on its way to completion on the Berbice River. So, we are quite deeply embedded within the Guyana petroleum story,” Narine said.
Back in January, the company had said it had spent over US$22 million on the BDWP project thus far through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Grand 2 Canal Industrial Estates (GCIE). In November 2022, CGX reported that the cargo terminal aspect of the port is expected to commence in mid-2023 and operation of the oil and gas support base in late 2023, subject to construction schedules and supply chains.

The port facility intends to serve as an offshore supply base for the oil and gas industry, and as a multi-purpose terminal to service agricultural import/export and containerised and specialised cargo, including aggregates for construction purposes. The BDW Project aims to enable the provisioning of operators and vendors in the territorial waters of both Guyana and Suriname.

The deep-water harbour project is being built on 30 acres of land adjacent to and north of Crab Island on the eastern bank of the Berbice River. It has been reported that 10 acres of the plot have been set aside as a living laboratory for the study of mangrove habitats in co-existence with commercial port operations.

Demerara
Alsto at the roundtable was Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer, one of the Directors of NRG Holding Incorporated. NRG Holding is a Guyanese-owned consortium currently constructing a US$300 million shore base project in the Demerara River. According to Boyer, the first phase of this project – the island that will serve as a base for Exxon’s operations, is well on the way to completion by December 15, 2023.
“As part of a project, we had to open up the mouth of the Demerara River and the shipping channel that is there, in order to achieve the timeline, set by Exxon to deliver our project… now, the shipping channel of Guyana pre was about 70 metres wide and about six meters deep. Post, it’s about 100 metres wide and nine meters deep.”
“[It’s] currently still in construction. We expect to deliver the first phase of that island on December 15 of this year. The entire project will be delivered in three phases. The first phase is December 15, 2023, the second phase is March 30, 2024. And the final phase being handed over at the end of 2024,” Deygoo-Boyer said.
In April 2022, ExxonMobil Guyana and the Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase Incorporated (VEHSI) signed a 20-year agreement for shore base services to be provided at the port of Vreed-en-Hoop facility to support the US oil giant’s operations offshore Guyana. The sod was subsequently turned in June of that year on the US$300 million facility.
VEHSI is a joint venture between a fully-owned Guyanese consortium – NRG Holdings Incorporated, and Jan De Nul Group, the Belgium-based company undertaking the project that specialises in offshore, marine, civil, environment, and project development.
The consortium includes Hadi’s World Inc, owned by businessmen Nazar “Shell” Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed, Nicholas Boyer and Eddie Boyer of National Hardware Guyana Limited, and Andron Alphonso of ZRN Investments Inc. NRG holds a majority stake of 85 per cent in VEHSI, while the remaining 15 per cent is owned by Jan De Nul – the company that will construct the facility.
The shore base project started the first step in June 2022, which entailed the dredging of the access channel in the Demerara River, including the deepening/widening of the existing nautical channel, berth pockets, and turning basin.