Foreign investors seeks to establish oil refinery in Linden

A team of professional foreign investors has expressed interest in establishing an oil refinery in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), with the intention of providing technical skills training to the community’s workforce and education sector.
Prospects for the initiative were discussed on Wednesday when the team met with regional stakeholders at the office of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) in Linden.
The team was led by US-based Ghanian entrepreneur Quincy Sintim-Aboagye who owns an oil company and Alfred Fafali Adagbedu who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Seaweld Engineering Limited in Ghana.
Apart from the refinery, the team also plans to establish a hotel and to develop economic avenues for local farming. According to Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) Regional Chairman Renis Morian, who chaired the meeting, the team

which also consists of US-based Guyanese has already had an engagement with Government.
Morian recently met with the Guyanese side of the team in Houston, Texas during which they expressed interest in the investment.
The Regional Chairman said after conducting a background check of the company, he was “blown away” with what he discovered. He said given that the community has solely depended on the bauxite industry which is no longer booming, he is optimistic about this venture.
“Bauxite is down. We’re looking for a consummate agency that could employ. Here is one who’s willing to bring their own funding , their own oil refinery… they would have established the kind of repertoire in terms of training that our Government about three or four weeks ago travelled to Ghana seeking training for our local people here… I spoke with the President who’s very upbeat about it… We’re prepared to fight to see this rig in Region 10 for the people here…,” he noted. During the meeting, stakeholders unanimously agreed that they would like to see the refinery in Linden.
Morian further added that though there is some resistance, he is now building support on the ground for the project. The potential investors noted that once given the nod, the operation can be up and running within 18 months.
“We’re hoping that we can get a letter of intent from somebody in high office that we can move forward… I’m happy that today to have met with the people’s representative from all of the major agencies in Region 10 as we met with a serious investor who has the money and the machinery to do oil refining in Region 10… They’re ready to go… while they were encouraged to go other places they were persuaded to come here… What we’re looking forward to now is support from our Government to have this oil refinery in Region 10,” Morian said.
During the meeting, Adagbedu said the team has done a lot of training with countries which have found oil. He said it’s important that when a country finds oil that its people fully participate in an effort to ensure maximum benefits. He noted that people who do simple vegetable farming also stand to benefit.
Meanwhile, Aboagye said once the initiative comes to fruition Linden stands to achieve maximum benefits. “All the benefits will come to Linden. If the oil refinery comes… We plan to roll some money into a hotel so that when the high experts come here they can spend some of the money here… We can also get into farming to create the low-end jobs,” he noted.
Additionally, Regional Councillor Gordon Callender made recommendations for the establishment of a school in Linden to train young people in oil and gas as urged the team to discuss this with Government.
The two sides also discussed the possibility of implementing training at the Linden Technical Institute (LTI). The investors have posited that there will be opportunities for job creation and training in areas such as welding.
Other benefits they highlighted are cheaper gas and electricity prices with additional interests in crude oil, bauxite expansion, the establishment of an industrial complex in Guyana.