Canadian-owned company CGX Energy Incorporated, which recently struck oil in the Corentyne Block offshore Guyana, will soon start dredging and constructing docks for its deep-water port in the Berbice River, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
The Deep-Water Port project, the first of its kind in Guyana, is being constructed at Seawall Village, Corentyne to the tune of US$80 million. CGX’s subsidiary, Grand Canal Industrial Estates (GCIE) Inc, has been engaged in civil works related to the construction of the facility.
Speaking at the International Energy Conference and Expo being held at the Guyana Marriott from February 14 to February 18, CGX Executive Chairman, Dr Suresh Narine disclosed that the works onshore have been advancing.
“The construction of docks and dredging will begin very shortly,” he said.
Dr Narine added that the company was currently in the process of selecting the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors.
“That will be followed by construction of the onshore buildings. Some of it will be done in unison. We are targeting the end of 2022 for the operation of the offshore supply base component of the port… So construction is progressing well and there is no major setback,” he stated.
According to the Executive Chairman, when completed, the port itself will have an offshore supply component to facilitate all the traditional services for the oil and gas sector, including the supply of materials, cement, fuel and even storage.
However, he noted that in addition to the oil and gas sector, the Deep-Water Port facility will support the region’s vast agricultural activities by offering container imports and exports services. This will be done at a multi-purpose terminal that will feature a grading facility, a containerised facility, and a specialised cargo facility by the end of 2023.
Of the allocated 30 acres of land on the eastern bank of the Berbice River, the Deep-Water Port facility is being constructed on a 20-acre lot and is designed to have a wharf platform and trestle access.
Dr Narine explained that the location of the port offered several advantages to the company, especially with the river being the deepest natural channel in the country.
“It was chosen well. The Berbice facility is on the eastern bank of the Berbice River, very close to where the channel is, resulting in a minimal need to dredge in order to access that naturally deep channel.
“The facility is about 12-and-a-half hours sailing to, for example, the Stabroek Block and so it offers quite natural advantages to accessing shore bases offshore. Trinidadian shore bases, of course, you need to steam for 48 hours in order to do the same thing,” he added.
The CGX Executive Chairman outlined that the facility was also far away from built-up areas to avoid encumbrances, but close enough to be able to access the town of New Amsterdam in terms of hospitality, logistics, labour, facilities, and services.
Dr Narine went on to inform the conference that the location was ideal since Berbice was currently ripe for transformation having suffered a damaging unemployment crisis following the closure of two of the three sugar estates in the region. This, he pointed out, has resulted in the availability of skilled and trained labour.
“So, because of the technical institutes, because of the university, because of the concentration of sugar on fabrication, there’s a tremendous amount of skilled welders, skilled plumbers and engineers in Berbice and they’re quite motivated… It’s a place which is really quite ripe for transformation,” the CGX Executive Chairman asserted.
Meanwhile, the remaining 10 acres of the company’s 30-acre plot will be used to maintain the mangroves along the Berbice River bank.
According to Dr Narine, the region is known for its swamps and savannahs as well as agricultural land. As such, he explained that development such as the facility CGX is undertaking has to be done with consideration of the environment.
To this end, he announced that CGX would soon be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in which the company would be committing to the co-existence of mangrove habitats with commercial activity on the river bank.
“This is very important, because, as has been articulated, if we want to see progress, we’ve got to disturb the environment somehow. But if we’re going to do that, we must disturb it as intelligently and as carefully as we can. So, we’re delighted that we’re not going to be cutting down the standing mangroves,” he declared.
The CGX deep-water harbour project has been in the works since 2010, when the company secured a 50-year lease on the property. But it was not until late 2020 that GCIE began advertising for a number of senior positions related to the deep-water harbour project.
While the initial project cost was estimated at US$80 million, it is expected, however, that when further expansion to construct heavy lift and fabrication facilities is done, costs will reach as high as US$130 million.
Earlier this month, CGX Energy Incorporated and its joint venture partner Frontera Energy Corporation had announced an oil find of 177 feet of oil-bearing reserves at the Kawa-1 well in the Corentyne Block. This week, however, the company revised that figure upwards to 200 feet of oil-bearing reserves following additional tests.
