CGX to start up portion of Deepwater port by next year

Oct 22, 2021 News

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Kaieteur News – Canadian exploration company, CGX Energy Inc. disclosed this week that works are ongoing to get at least the Offshore Supply Base of its US$130M Berbice Deep Water Port up and running by the third quarter of 2022. In its latest operational update, the company said the port’s Multi-Purpose Terminal servicing agricultural, general, and containerized cargos will be fully operational before the end of 2023.

Overall, CGX said the project continues to be on schedule with construction ongoing on the access road, which is 55% completed; the bridge from Corentyne Highway being 68% completed; rip rap flood protection being 93% completed; and extension of electricity infrastructure to the port site reaching 85% completion. It said, too, that the quayside laydown yard is 26% completed.
The Canadian firm further noted that work has commenced on infrastructure to deliver potable water to the port, with all permits and permissions in place. It said that requests for proposals have been advertised for the wharf platform and access trestle, capital dredging programme, design and construction of all gates, buildings and fences, design and construction of firefighting, and first aid structures and covered storage areas. This newspaper understands that evaluations of submitted proposals for the capital dredging and construction of the wharf platform and access trestle are underway.
With the recent consecutive commercial discoveries on Block 58 in Suriname and the exponential increase in drilling offshore Suriname, coupled with the ongoing exploration and production activities on the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, and exploration wells to be drilled by CGX and others in 2021, the demand for ports servicing these operations have grown almost exponentially.
Currently, more than 75% of the port business servicing offshore oil and gas operations in Guyana and Suriname are provided by Trinidadian ports. However there are cost, fuel and carbon footprint concerns for companies operating in Guyana and Suriname, as the sailing time from Trinidad ports to the fields offshore Guyana and Suriname require approximately 48 hours of sailing one way, as opposed to between 12 and 14 hours from the Berbice river location for the CGX Port.
This means that significantly more fuel is consumed for services from Trinidad based ports, leading to increased carbon emissions and escalation of costs related to fuel consumption, equipment rental, wear and tear and complicated logistics. Importantly, this presents an opportunity not only for CGX, but also for Guyanese seeking to capitalize on the emerging jobs in the oil and gas industry.
For Berbice, CGX has said that the port would be a game changer, and one of the more elegant solutions to the acute employment crisis created when the sugar estates were closed. Even as the sugar estates are in the process of being re-configured, unemployment in the Ancient County is still very high. Given that CGX has indicated that the port will also service the agricultural sector, it is expected that the Port will also boost the competitiveness of sugar and rice grown in Regions Five and Six, as these commodities incur approximately 20% additional in costs to be transported to Port Georgetown for shipping.
This, in turn, should see an upswing in the amount of Berbicians engaged in agriculture and agro-processing. With the expected increase in personnel servicing the offshore operations coming through the port, hospitality services and other businesses in New Amsterdam, which have been depressed for some time, are expected to see a significant boost in demand.
A few months ago, officials attached to Suriname’s national oil company, Staatsolie, highlighted the need for a deepwater port facility to service both countries’ offshore exploration and production activities. Given the position of CGX’s facility, it would be well placed to offer services to companies in the oil and gas sector from both countries.
CGX officials have also indicated in the past that the Company was very excited about the potential increase in commodity goods coming through Guyana to the Port from Brazil, and also Suriname, as linkages to those countries being worked on are realized in the next few years. This includes the proposed bridge over the Corentyne River, and the proposed road to the State of Roraima in Brazil.
With the CGX Grand Canal Industrial Estates Berbice Deep Water Port back on track, Berbicians are set to take advantage of what is likely to place Berbice at the focal point of a Guyana-Suriname Energy and Commerce Corridor.

 

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