GUYANESE have long heard about the economic prospects of having a deep-water port at the mouth of the Berbice River, and now one large-scale foreign investor has already commenced construction of such a facility.CGX Energy Inc., the oil exploration company that has already invested in excess of US$350M in Guyana, disclosed last Friday for the first time that it was already forging ahead with the construction of a deep-water port at the mouth of the Berbice River.

The massive multi-million dollar facility is being built by CGX Energy Inc. to initially augment its operations, and tap into the potential created by other oil exploration wells being spud in the region.

Co-Chairman of CGX Energy (Guyana), Professor Suresh Narine, made the disclosure as he announced that the government had agreed to an extension for it to spud another exploration well offshore Corentyne.
He was at the time speaking to industry stakeholders at a special briefing by the oil exploration giant at Cara Lodge International Hotel in Georgetown.

INVESTING IN INFRASTRUCTURE

According to Professor Narine, CGX is so far the only oil exploration company in Guyana to have invested not only in its activities but also in infrastructure.
“We invest in infrastructure here, not because we are only patriotic, but in addition to being patriotic, we believe that there is significant money to be made in the services to the oil and gas industry,” Professor Narine said.

In explaining the company’s ownership and development of a deep-sea port at the mouth of the Berbice River, the CGX Co-Chair pointed to “a wholly-owned subsidiary called Grand Canal Industrial Estates (GCIE).”

Located north of the Berbice River Bridge at Palymra Village, Professor Narine disclosed too that the 50-year land lease with the Government of Guyana is for a 22-hectare plot, with 600 meters of frontage at the mouth of the Berbice River.

The wharf, he said, is a mere 10 kilometers from the open Atlantic Ocean, and CGX Energy Inc., through its subsidiary, GCIE, has already roped in the Dutch firm, Ballast Needam, to complete the first phase of construction on the project.

Professor Narine told stakeholders that CGX Energy Inc. is currently in active negotiations with other oil and gas companies operating in the region, “as well as other venture partners” in pursuit of the project’s completion.
He said that CGX has already invested between US$10M and US$15M on the facility.

CHAGUARAMAS FACILITY

Putting into perspective an oil exploration company’s venture into constructing a deep-water port at the mouth of the Berbice River, Professor Narine engaged stakeholders on the opportunities available, and the fact that the closest such facility exists at Chaguaramas, in Trinidad and Tobago.

Drilling for oil, he explained, costs just about US$500,000 per day, with a significant amount of that cost attributed to supplies having to be brought in with Chaguaramas currently being the only staging area, since it houses the closest deep water port.
The world-renowned professor explained that at present, each of those oil companies exploring in the Guyana basin, including CGX Energy Inc., currently depends exclusively on one of its key sources of raw materials making its way through the Chaguaramas deep water port, 450 miles away.

This economic activity related directly to the oil and gas sector will be transferred to Berbice as against having to reside in Trinidad and Tobago, according to Professor Narine.
“So we believe that this is a tremendous opportunity,” according to the CGX Co-Chair.
The GGX facility, Professor Narine added, when completed will be the main deep water port in north east South America.

By Gary Eleazar