Canadian-based CGX Energy Inc’s Berbice Deep-Water Port (BDWP) Project continues to face delays as its start-up has once again been pushed back to later this year.
Through its local subsidiary – the Grand Canal Industrial Estates (GCIE), CGX has undertaken the construction of the US$130 million deep-water port in the Berbice River which includes a wharf facility and a trestle as well as a cargo terminal. The port facility is being constructed to support oil and gas activities offshore of Guyana.
In an update back in March, the company had said that cargo operations at the port were slated to start in the second quarter of 2024. However, in its Quarterly Highlights for the first three months of 2024, which was published on May 8, CGX reported that operationalisation has been shifted to the third quarter of this year.
“Initial cargo operations at the port are expected to commence in the third quarter of 2024, projected based on expressed interest from third parties to utilise the Port for the importation and storage of aggregates,” the Energy company said in its Q1 Highlights.
This is not the first time the highly-anticipated and touted project has faced delays with CGX hoping to start operations in 2022. Over the past year and a half, the commencement timeline has been shifted on several occasions.
Being built on 30 acres of land adjacent to Crab Island on the eastern bank of the Berbice River and some 4.8 km from the Atlantic Ocean, the BDWP facility is intended to serve as an offshore supply base for the oil and gas industry, and as a multi-purpose terminal to service agricultural import/export, containerised and specialised cargoes, including aggregates for construction purposes.
Works completed so far at the Berbice Deep-Water Port
The BDW Project is also aimed at enabling the provisioning of oil operators and vendors in the territorial waters of both Guyana and Suriname.
GCIE had also previously reported that there were some minor setbacks with the project, due to revisions that were needed to the design of its wharf and trestle in the Berbice River.
As the lowest bidder, GAICO Construction and General Services Inc. was selected to construct the 160-foot access trestle and wharf and to perform the required dredging operations for the BDWP facility to the tune of US$2.1 million.
In its Q1 Highlights, GCIE said “Work on the 50 x 12 m access trestle built from the quayside yard westward into the Berbice River was completed in August 2023 without any HSE (Health, Safety, and Environment) related incidents.”
The company added that so far, it has performed various developmental works on the site including the installation of vertical drains and geotechnical treatment of the quayside land. It added that riverside construction is completed on approximately 500 m of rip rap flood protection; a 10-acre quayside laydown yard built to a five tons per square metre load bearing capacity; an access bridge to the main Corentyne highway and 2.6 km access road, both built to American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (“ASSHTO”) standards; concrete drains and driveways for residents along the roadway and extension of municipal water and power to the port site.
According to the company, Requests for Proposals (RFP) were advertised for the wharf platform and access trestle, capital dredging program, design and construction of all gates, buildings, firefighting and first aid structures, and covered storage areas.
The port will be capable of loading and offloading vessels, mainly aggregates, from the completed trestle, as well as the storage of material at the completed port yard.
This, GCIE explained in its Q1 Highlights, will require the construction of a ramp to access the trestle as well as the installation of mooring piles to aid in bringing vessels alongside. This work will commence in early May 2024. Operation of the full cargo terminal aspects of the port is forecasted for the first half of 2025 and operation of oil and gas support is forecasted for the second half of 2025, subject to construction schedules, financing, and supply chains.
The Company is currently constructing a security fence around the port yard. Work will commence in May with the construction of a trestle extension and ramp as well as driving piles for fendering and mooring to aid in bringing vessels alongside.
Meanwhile, as it prepares to commence cargo operations later this year, GCIE said it continues to develop and foster partnerships between Brazilian and Guyanese companies; necessary to begin handling cargo from and to Roraima and Amazonas, the northern states of Brazil.
Previously, the Guyana Government had expressed concerns over the slow pace of the BWDP Project and made CGX relinquish two oil exploration blocks offshore Demerara and Berbice to the State so that the company could focus on operations in the Corentyne Block, where it made significant oil discovery, as well as on the deep-water port facility.
President Dr Irfaan Ali has on multiple occasions, emphasised the importance of a deep-water harbour in Guyana as part of his administration’s push to have the country become a major logistics and trans-shipment hub in the South America and Caribbean regions.
With work ongoing on a paved road through Lethem to connect to Northern Brazil, and with the Corentyne River Bridge to connect with Suriname pending, the aim is to use Guyana as a transshipment hub to get cargoes moved to neighbouring countries as well as to other nations in the region. (G-8)
