–gets 11-year extension on contract with ExxonMobil Guyana

THE Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI), a pioneering Guyanese company in the local oil-and-gas sector, has secured an 11-year extension on its contract with Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), an ExxonMobil affiliate, for the provision of shore-base management and operations services.

The contract will run until 2033 and builds on the previous contract, which was awarded to the company in 2017 and will expire in August this year. In these five years, GYSBI has directly invested over US$300 million in enabling port infrastructure, real estate development, warehousing and support services, and recruited, trained and certified more than 1,000 Guyanese for key operational positions within the industry and beyond through its affiliates.

Further, according to company, it has catalysed greater than US$500 million in investment in the Houston/McDoom, East Bank Demerara corridor, by providing the enabling infrastructure and establishing the first oil-and-gas activity hub in Guyana and creating direct and indirect employment for more than 2,000 persons.

At an event held on Saturday to commemorate the milestone extension of contract, Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, lauded the signing, noting that GYSBI has become a prime example of what is possible for Guyanese businesses in the country’s relatively new oil-and-gas sector.

“Let me congratulate and commend GYSBI and ExxonMobil Guyana…We are happy to be here to see this signing… and seeing another Guyanese company taking a big stride in the oil-and-gas sector and putting Guyana on the map.  This signing is a clear indication that we are building capacity as we move to develop the oil-and-gas sector.

“There is so much that is happening offshore Guyana and it is not only in the Stabroek Block. I am positive that we will have other discoveries. This activity shows that we are moving in the right direction in this country,” he said.

Minister Bharrat noted that, with a projection of nearly 11 billion barrels of recoverable resources thus far and further drilling activities taking place, the Government of Guyana is optimistic that more discoveries would be recorded and therefore, more Guyanese companies would be called upon to meet the myriad of services that would be required.

Minister Bharrat went on to say: “As a government, we are not afraid to take bold steps. Some people may say that we are moving too fast and indeed we are moving fast. I don’t think we have seen this pace of developing an oil-and-gas sector in any country, especially a third-world country like Guyana.

“The Local Content Act was enacted to ensure that Guyanese benefit from the oil-and-gas sector, which they truly deserve. Guyanese must benefit and as a government; we are entrusted to do such, in partnership with our foreign partners. We see you as valuable partners and we are committed to working with you to ensure we develop these resources in a way that benefits both the people of Guyana and the company.”

Executive Director of GYSBI, Robin Muneshwer, said that the contract extension builds on five years of significant and continuous investment, hard work, training and development of local capacity to create a world-class facility that meets the specialised needs of the oil and gas industry.

“The first five years that we are about to complete in August were quite challenging but ExxonMobil was a true partner in all of this. They worked with us as we developed because we were starting from scratch in a country that had no oil and gas experience or infrastructure.  As we developed, ExxonMobil raised the bar on us and this is where we are at right now.

“We have got an 11-year extension because we earned it. What we have developed at GYSBI is something we are extremely proud of. Our safety record is unparallel, we have just celebrated two years LTI free. Our operational record is excellent, so it wasn’t handed to us. We have earned it. ExxonMobil has shown a lot of trust and faith in us and worked with us,” Muneshwer said.

TREMENDOUS GROWTH
GYSBI’s Executive Director highlighted that the company, in 2017, signed a contract for eight acres, two berths and one warehouse. Today, it stands at 170 acres, has eight warehouses and four berths, with further expansions planned. While it started with five employees, GYSBI now has a workforce of 616 persons, 95 per cent of whom are Guyanese.

“So, we have grown tremendously and we have grown because of the unparallel success that ExxonMobil has had with their discoveries. We have grown in sync with them.  We have also been a poster boy for local content. None of this would have been possible without GYSBI, which is just five years old. We know that we are an integral part of what ExxonMobil does and we do not take that for granted,” Muneshwer said.

ExxonMobil Guyana’s Logistics Manager, Hayley Gilbert, said that GYSBI continues to offer comprehensive services that are crucial to the company’s day-to-day operations and has progressively matched its growth and need for additional space, with a move over to its 70+ acres industrial estate and the commissioning of two heavy lift berths later this year.

“I have personally been able to see the transformation across GYBSI and I can only imagine what we can accomplish together over the eleven years. When you are part of such a significant development on the onset as GYSBI has been with ExxonMobil in Guyana, having continuity and sustainable business has been critical to be able to deliver the achievements that we have seen. ExxonMobil Guyana is proud to be associated with a company that continues to maintain a high standard of health, safety and operational efficiency,” she said.

Gilbert highlighted that GYSBI remains critical as ExxonMobil Guyana advances its plans to responsibly develop Guyana’s oil and gas resources.

“The signing of a decade plus agreement shows the long-term commitment between these two business partners. Our relationship has grown over the years as GYSBI has been our conduit from the onshore to the offshore operations, a logistics hub, providing us with world class services including drilling and production operations support, waste management and storage. As the demand for support services has grown, it was clear that the expansion was necessary and GYSBI has responded to grow the multi- user facility that we see today, supporting the specialised needs of the oil and gas sector here in Guyana,” she said.

The ceremony also saw the attendance of the Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C.; Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill; Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh; Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, members of the Private Sector Commission, the banking Sector, and other dignitaries.