Since 2017, the Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI) has been the preferred provider of shore base management and integrated logistics services for operators offshore. But the explosion of exploration and production activity in the basin has been too much for the company to handle. This state of affairs paved the way for Trinidad and Tobago to grab up more than 70 percent of the contracts for shore base services.
In a bid to capture some of that lost revenue, there has been a push by the government for Guyanese to set up such facilities as quickly as possible. In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency is already reviewing several proposals to get the ball rolling.
Even as this is being done, Sean Hill, General Manager at the Guyana Shore Base Inc. which is headquartered in Houston recently issued a word of caution on rushing to build several shore bases across the country. At the Guyana Basins Summit which concluded last week, Hill said that shore base facilities require specific skill sets which are not always transferrable. More importantly, Hill said that Guyana needs to be cognizant of whether it has the human resources to properly manage these facilities while simultaneously considering the impact that could have on its plans to build other industries.
Hill said, “…Guyana is trying to develop its infrastructure to take some of (the shore base management) off Trinidad and Tobago because local content is starting to ramp up. Suriname is interested in doing the same because local content is important to them too. And it is going to need the assistance of a capable industry because most of its work is also in a deepwater environment.”
The General Manager added, “…(But) human resource is a limiting factor to what we can do here in Guyana. A lot of the skill sets that we have in the industry are non-transferrable.”
With this in mind, Hill said if Guyana moves ahead with another shore base in the Essequibo and another one down south in Berbice, the big question that arises is—“Do we really have the human resources to manage all of those shore bases?”
“…If we have four or five more shore bases that takes them (Guyanese) away from the sugar industry, the bauxite industry, the gold industry. We need to be cautious and cognizant that Guyana is not putting all of its eggs into one basket,” the General Manager concluded.
