Exxon to rent more helicopters

Aug 03, 2021 News

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…gives interested parties two weeks to clear first hurdle

Kaieteur News – Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) has contracted a fleet of helicopters from Bristow—an international air transportation company specialising in helicopter services—but with its ramped up activities in Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the company is now looking to secure the services of additional suppliers.

According to the invitation for interested parties, EEPGL intends to establish an enabling agreement for the provision of offshore helicopter and passenger handling services. EEPGL said, it is looking to “identify suppliers who can provide air transportation in support of offshore exploration, development activities.”
Notably, the “suppliers will be required, but not limited, to supply appropriate aircraft.”
This is in addition to supplying, “ground support equipment, furnish competent crews and personnel operated by them, and maintain aircraft and associated facilities provided by EEPGL.
ExxonMobil made the request for information for potential suppliers on July 29 last, with potential suppliers being given a little over two weeks to clear the first hurdle by having their submissions in by August 13.
The new agreements being proposed by EEPGL will inherently evolve into full fledged contracts, to be paid from cost oil—up to 75 percent of crude produced in a given month.
The request by ExxonMobil comes at a time when more information is coming to light with regard to the operational and other expenses being undertaken by the oil company.
To date, the expenditure for which the company deducts through the sale, of as much as 75 percent of the crude produced in the Stabroek Block, has in large part remained in the domain of the partners and has never been shared publicly.
This publication reported on one such set of previously unknown publicly expenses on Sunday last that was documented in a recent study on Guyana’s Oil and Gas industry and the economics involved by Tom Sanzillo, Director of financial analysis for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), that ExxonMobil Guyana in fact, pays its parent company ExxonMobil Corp. — based in Texas, USA — a hefty Parent Company Overhead (PCO) fee.
A PCO fee is described in business circles as a fee charged by an operator to its co-venture partners in respect of costs of support services from its parent organisation such as Human Resources security and procurement services, and is most commonly charged on the basis of a percentage of all other sums charged to the joint account.
Another set of expenses reported on by this publication relates to the rental of supply boats.
ExxonMobil Guyana is currently seeking three classes of specialised supply vessels to support its offshore operations.
The company currently has an active request for information for the provision of multi-purpose support vessels, platform support vessels, and fast support vessels.
The company, in making its request, indicated that EEPGL—ExxonMobil Guyana subsidiary—plans to put in place an enabling agreement(s) for the provision and operation of multi-purpose support vessels(MPSVs), platform support vessels (PSVs), and fast support vessels (FSVs) for offshore activity in Guyana.
The company in its invite noted that the delivery dates for the supply vessels would be October 1 or January 1, 2021, depending on the type of vessel being provided.
This publication had also recently reported that ExxonMobil Guyana is currently utilising 24 supply vessels to support its drilling operations at the Urau-1 well in the Stabroek Block at a cost of some US$1.3M daily.
This is for each of the vessels being rented at a cost of some US$55,000, as neighbouring oil producers, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname, spend some US$12,000 for the rentals of their supply vessels.
According to a recent notice by ExxonMobil, the 24 vessels it recently rented were to support its drilling operations in the Stabroek Block, this time using the MODU Stena Carron to spud its Urau-1 well, some 101 miles offshore Guyana.
That drilling area encompasses an area of 0.29 square miles and mariners are being warned to stay clear of the vessels and navigate with extreme caution when in the vicinity.
The supply vessels being employed to support the drilling activity include Gary Rook, Russell Bouziga, Robert Adams, Seacor Nile, Sanibel Island, Jack Edwards, Holiday, C-Installer, Kirk Chouest, Roger White, Charlie Commeaux and the Ted Smith.
Others being employed are Paradise Island, Seacor Demerara, Clarence Triche, Seacor Congo, Horn Island, Russell Adams, Seacor Murray, Seacor Amazon, Seacor Mixteca, Emily Day McCall, Michael Crombie and Guyana Hero.
Kaieteur News has since been reliably informed that according to the company’s contracts, they are to be paid whether the vessel is used in a day or not.

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