THE United States based petroleum company, Prime Energy LLC- Caribbean, is hoping to make history  with the establishment of the first ever oil refinery in Guyana, and the investors brought news about their plans to President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday.
Among those in the visiting delegation were President of Prime Energy Jerry Brooks, company representative Vijay Doerga, and members of the company’s board.
Prior to their meeting with the Head of State, the delegation met at an information session with stakeholders at the Princess Hotel. Prime Minister Samuel Hinds was at the meeting.
The company is pursuing the venture in partnership with Kuai Energy Systems and Chemexllc, and has signalled its intention to recruit 100 Guyanese to work with the company when it becomes a reality.
Doerga gave the assurance that “tonnes of jobs,” will be awaiting Guyanese after the establishment of the project which, the company predicts, will be subject to much cost and complication.
Foundation work is scheduled to commence in another six months with a period of 18 months time-tabled for the project to come on stream with an investment scale of US$75M.
In an invited comment to the Government Information Agency (GINA), Brooks explained that the refinery is a modular mini refinery with a capacity to hold 20,000 barrels daily.
Manufacturing of major elements on the refiners will be done in the United States and then shipped to Guyana for installation. Brooks explained that this approach will be taken to avert any factor that may stymie the project completion duration, such as inclement weather.
“A large typical refinery today can take up to seven years to build… and most people have the concept that they can’t build a smaller refinery because they have all these big markets that they want to supply. We’re looking for a small market to supply,” Brooks said.
He further explained that the interest to establish a refinery in Guyana was stimulated by the fact that several countries around the world are looking to 20,000 barrels a day refineries for their countries, given the high cost incurred to transport crude oil to the United States for refining.
Doerga explained that the conglomerate will be sourcing its crude oil from companies in the region in the initial phase, but will also forge ties with local exporters.
Prime Energy is an independent oil and gas company  with a mandate to acquire, develop and produce oil and natural gas through small- scale oil refinery technology.
(GINA)