By Vishani Ragobeer
In what has been touted as a win for Guyanese local content efforts, NRG Holdings – a consortium of local businesses in collaboration with Jan De Nul – an international maritime infrastructure company landed a contract to support future construction activities of ExxonMobil.
The consortium comprises three local entrepreneurs: gold miner Andron Alphonso of ZRN Investment Inc; Azruddin Mohamed of HADI’S World Incorporated; and Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer of National Hardware Guyana Ltd.
Together with Jan De Nul, the business people will design and build an 85 per cent Guyanese-owned Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase Incorporated (VESHI) on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD) at a cost of some US$300 million (GY$62.7 billion).
Through the new contract, ExxonMobil-Guyana will use this shore base to conduct more of its needed fabrication works here.
President of ExxonMobil Guyana Alistair Routledge, at the contract signing on Friday, explained that some of the fabrication works are already being done in-country at a Saipem facility.
But the new Vreed-en-Hoop shorebase is expected to bring much-needed services to Guyana, some of which are still being provided by Trinidad and Tobago.
“VESHI allows us to bring more of the construction activities to Guyana,” Routledge emphasised.
He later added, “…(It) will truly be a springboard for Yellowtail and future projects, helping to increase local content.”
The start-up of the Yellowtail project, Routledge said previously, is expected to begin in late 2025 and is anticipated to produce 250,000 barrels of oil per day from the “One Guyana” Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel that would be able to store up to two million barrels.
Exxon’s total investment in this project is pegged at US$10 billion- the single largest investment in Guyana to date.
This shore base went through a competitive bidding process to secure the contract from ExxonMobil Guyana.
NRG Holdings’ partner Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer said that this shore base will come on stream by the fourth quarter of 2023; it will comprise berths, heavy-lift paths and fabrication paths.
With the business the facility promises to bring to Guyana, Deygoo-Boyer posited that more Guyanese will get jobs.
“This increases your local content, brings down commercial shipping costs and creates a commercial area for service companies to use and bring more local content,” he said
The local businessman said that the project was receiving no financial support from Guyana’s government, noting that a wider shore base development, pegged at US $600 million, is expected.
“Our project is meant to be a kick start for bigger development for the country,” he emphasised.
