Growth in oil & gas expanding maritime, aviation sectors – Edghill

…ships at local ports triple; multiple shore bases approved

The growth in the oil and gas sector is having a ripple effect in other sectors, including the aviation and maritime sectors and it is expected that as more Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels enter Guyana’s waters, the expansion will only continue.
This is according to Public Works Minister Juan Edghill during his recent contribution in the National Assembly on the Local Content Bill. He drew comparisons between Guyana’s maritime and aviation sectors pre and post start of oil production in 2019.
“Before oil and gas, we used to see about 7 to 10 ships making a call at port Georgetown on a weekly basis. Today, we are making an average of 52 ships making calls at Port Guyana. Expansion in the maritime sector. With just one FPSO in play right now and the service ships that have to go out and come in and supplies and the rest of it. There is major development.”
“We have a new development in Guyana in the aviation sector. Rotary craft have to be out and in of our airports. And that is with one FPSO. When you have several offshore Guyana, more companies will have to come to Guyana to get people out using helicopter services,” the Minister said.

He also noted that with the expansion and even more FPSOs joining the oil sector, more people will benefit from the ripple effects of oil and gas. Edghill also revealed that the Sea and River Defence Board, which falls under the Public Works Ministry, has been issuing its no objection to a number of investors looking to set up facilities to service the offshore developments.
“It means more people have to be fed, more people have to be accommodated, because when they’re on rotations there must be apartments, places for them to stay, if there are apartments these places need to be maintained, there needs to be landscaping, more people need fruits and vegetables, more people staying at hotels, they need tomatoes and cucumber. We don’t need the canned stuff coming to Guyana. We need our farmers to provide their services to those places to ensure they’re getting part of the pie.”
“More companies coming to Guyana, through the sea and river defence board, we have offered at least eight no objections for development, for shore bases and other facilities. There will be lay down yards, people will have to drive the fork lift. People will have to work the trucks with the high arms. There’s a whole host of activities that will be taking place,” Minister Edghill also said.
ExxonMobil has said it anticipates that at least six projects offshore Guyana will be online by 2027. Back in May 2019, Exxon was granted approval by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to go ahead with its Liza Phase 2 Development offshore Guyana. The oil company had said that the project will have the capacity to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day.
Exxon had also revealed that the Liza Phase 2 development was funded at the cost of some US$6 billion, including a lease capitalisation cost of approximately $1.6 billion, for the Liza Utility FPSO vessel. For the Phase 2 Development, six drill centres were planned, along with approximately 30 wells – 15 productions, nine water injection and six gas injection wells.
The US$9 billion Payara development, the third development, will meanwhile target an estimated resource base of about 600 million oil-equivalent barrels and was at one point considered to be the largest single planned investment in the history of Guyana.
The Yellowtail development, which will be oil giant ExxonMobil’s fourth development in Guyana’s waters, will turn out to be the single largest development so far in terms of barrels per day (bpd) of oil, with a mammoth 250,000 bpd targeted. (G3)