CARICOM

Suriname

Seadrill wins Staatsolie rig contract. UK drilling contractor will provide services in nearshore area

 

Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V. signed a contract with Seadrill Limited for the provision of drilling rig services in the nearshore off the Suriname coast. Seadrill will mobilize the West Castor to Suriname and operate the rig in the first quarter of 2019 for drilling activities.

Staatsolie will independently commence exploration of nine wells over three main contracts: Drilling Rig, Logistics and Integrated Rig Services. Staatsolie awarded a logistics contract to Medserv International Ltd which, in collaboration with local partner Kuldipsingh, will be responsible for the logistics of people, materials and vessel transport. The third contract, Rig Services, awarded to Halliburton for supporting services such as rig positioning will soon be signed. In September 2018, Staatsolie signed a letter of intent with the Coast Guard of Suriname to provide security during drilling operations. With the successful awarding of these contracts, a preparation phase of eighteen months is concluded. Social, environmental impact and safety studies and the design phase were completed as well as detailed well engineering and design. Contracts have a term of approximately twelve months. Throughout the contracting process, Staatsolie ensured economic benefits of the project would remain in Suriname. Local content and involvement of Suriname businesses were emphasized wherever possible.

The Nearshore Drilling Project includes drilling of nine exploration wells in the sea off the coast in April 2019 until the first quarter of 2020. This nearshore area up to 40 kilometers from the coastline has water depths of up to 30 meters. Staatsolie aims to safeguard long-term production by detecting nearshore reserves. This is the first step to achieve this goal.

Seadrill, a British offshore drilling contractor based in Hamilton, Bermuda provides rig services to the oil and gas industry. The company operate from London and is active in Angola, Brunei, the Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria and Norway.
Medserv International delivers integrated logistics support and services, including engineering for plant and equipment used for the exploration and production of oil and gas from offshore fields. Medserv operates from its permanent base in Malta, but also has operations in Cyprus, Egypt, the UAE, Oman, Iraq and Libya.
Halliburton, an American multinational and one of the world’s largest oil field service companies, with offices in over 70 countries, has supported various onshore drilling operations at Staatsolie.

CSME

St Vincent ‘loses’ from Petrotrin shutdown

At the 18th Special Meeting of Caricom heads in Trinidad, Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves, son of SVG Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves. said St Vincent -Grenadines (SVG) has not yet participated in new supplies of gasoline from Trinidad to Caricom, while suffering from importing oil from Venezuela, now under US embargo.

In closing the Petrotrin refinery, the Trinidad government proposed to import refined oil, some of which it would then re-export to Caricom countries which had hitherto imported refined product from Petrotrin.    SVG has not yet benefited from such re-exports and he had not received details.   A US embargo against the Maduro regime complicated import of Venezuelan oil, both in hiring ships to carry the oil and by arranging payment in suitable currency.   SVG imported most of its refined oil from Petrotrin, with some diesel from Venezuela under the Petrocaribe treaty.

SVG and other Caricom nations are now seeking oil outside the region.

“On one hand you can get a cheaper price outside the region but on the other hand Petrotrin had a competitive advantage by being able to deliver small amounts of fuel. We don’t need an oil tanker. We don’t have the means to store that much fuel. … while foreign fuel may be priced cheaper, it will cost more to transport to small countries in the Caribbean.  Petrotrin’s closure disrupted the supply somewhat. We have sourced it (oil) from other sources, but it has been a disruption.”

About the Trinidad plan to import and then re-export refined fuels to Caricom, he said, “That’s the plan as I understand it, but what we’re doing at the Caricom level is seeking the ability to cut out the middle man, if we can find the fuel ourselves, at a more affordable price. Petrotrin has yet to .. explain how it will work – if they source it, refine it and re-export it, and what that would mean in terms of a time-line, supply and cost. So we don’t have enough data for me to comment on that.” US sanctions on Venezuela are having an impact on places like SVG. “The sanctions make it very hard for money to move from the Caribbean to Venezuela, or to move money from Venezuela. I mentioned the issue of Petrotrin supplying small amounts to the eastern Caribbean.”

Trinidad

Paria Fu­el Trad­ing Co Ltd

Im­me­di­ate­ly from the lift-off date, the Paria Fu­el Trad­ing Co Ltd com­menced ter­mi­nalling op­er­a­tions. Road tank wag­ons took fu­el for ve­hi­cles, kerosene and diesel for dis­tri­b­u­tion. Tanker-load­ing of crude oil was al­so start­ed. The ma­jor­i­ty of Paria em­ploy­ees – over 200 – are con­tract­ed, dur­ing this pe­ri­od while the company con­tin­ues to be ful­ly staffed.

No more regular gas for Fishermen

Fisherman Dhanraj Ramkissoon cleans fish at his stall at Kings Wharf, San Fernando.Fishing boats at the San Fernando Wharf.   Kings Wharf, San Fernando.  Fish­er­men protest be­cause reg­u­lar gas is no longer avail­able .

VP of Clax­ton Bay Fish­ing As­so­ci­a­tion Bhadase Sook­nanan warned that with­out reg­u­lar gas, the fu­el used in their out­board en­gines , the in­dus­try will be oblit­er­at­ed. With two boats and five em­ployees, he spent $200 on gas for one fish­ing trip but that will in­crease to $500. “How are we to live? Why are they try­ing to break the backs of the fish­er­men? strug­gling….peo­ple can­not af­ford to buy gas. .. un­able to af­ford to fish.”

Pro­vi­sion must be made to safe­guard the fish­ing in­dus­try, facing high­er fish prices and a re­duc­tion in the num­ber of fish­er­men.

The Min­istry of En­er­gy an­nounced the ces­sa­tion of the sup­ply of reg­u­lar gaso­line (RON 83) . Fol­low­ing the clo­sure of the Petrotrin re­fin­ery the last stocks of reg­u­lar gaso­line were dis­trib­uted on De­cem­ber 7. De­mand fluc­tu­at­ed be­tween 8,000 bar­rels to 10,000 bar­rels per month. Paria Fu­el Trad­ing Com­pa­n, new sup­plier of liq­uid pe­tro­le­um fu­els on the lo­cal mar­ket, claimed that im­ports of reg­u­lar gaso­line (RON 83) are un­eco­nom­i­cal as the vol­umes are small, the fu­el is not a stan­dard grade and is rarely pro­duced by most re­gion­al re­finer­ies.

En­er­gy Min­is­ter Franklin Khan said. the gov­ern­ment is mon­i­tor­ing re­moval of the fu­el sub­sidy. Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert apol­o­gised for telling an IMF con­fer­ence in 2016, “I in­creased the price of fu­el by 15 per cent and….raised it by an­oth­er 15 per cent and .. again .. raised it by an­oth­er 15 per cent. They haven’t ri­ot­ed yet.” The sub­sidy on diesel and su­per fu­el was de­creased in this year’s bud­get, push­ing up the price at the pump, causing a hike of taxi fares and raising the cost of liv­ing. The sub­sidy will be phased out. Gov­ern­ment is cog­nisant of the con­se­quences.

“We have .. to seek a mar­ket-dri­ven price… prices are post­ed every month, like Ja­maica. In the US, the prices.. change dai­ly at the ser­vice sta­tion. With fluc­tu­at­ing oil prices, that’s a cum­ber­some sys­tem to man­age and can cause great ag­gra­va­tion to the pub­lic.. ex­pect­ing to see an in­crease in prices. Con­verse­ly, there could al­so be a dip in prices—it’s a dif­fi­cult sit­u­a­tion …. We’ve re­moved most of the sub­sidy, but with a US$65 oil price fore­cast, the sub­sidy’s gone back up and we’re mon­i­tor­ing the sit­u­a­tion..”

OW­TU attacked Khan for his ex­pla­na­tions in Par­lia­ment about tem­po­rary work­ers re­ceiv­ing gra­tu­ity at the end of every work­ing cy­cle and that Petrotrin had no oblig­a­tion to such work­ers.  ”What ac­tu­al­ly hap­pened in Petrotrin is that all tem­po­rary work­ers on­ly re­ceive a gra­tu­ity pay­ment when they worked for a pe­ri­od of twelve weeks or more. To avoid pay­ing this gra­tu­ity, the com­pa­ny en­gaged in ro­tat­ing tem­po­rary em­ploy­ees to en­sure they didn’t ex­ceed 11 weeks of con­sec­u­tive work and as such, al­most all tem­po­rary em­ploy­ees worked for years with­out ever re­ceiv­ing a gra­tu­ity pay­ment. If the En­er­gy Min­is­ter is un­aware of this, then an im­me­di­ate apol­o­gy is re­quired and the plight of all tem­po­rary work­ers must im­me­di­ate­ly be ad­dressed.” OW­TU con­demned Khan’s state­ment that tem­po­rary work­ers can find em­ploy­ment in ser­vice com­pa­nies. “The same min­is­ter .. put every Petrotrin work­er in a po­si­tion where com­pa­nies are re­ject­ing their ap­pli­ca­tions. Gov­ern­ment tar­nished the work­ers’ im­age, the on­ly com­pa­nies hir­ing Petrotrin work­ers are the same con­trac­tors com­ing to re­place Petrotrin work­ers and at rates that are less than half of what they earned be­fore.”

Guyana 

IDB APPROVES US$11.6 MILLION LOAN

As Guyana prepares to become a player in the international oil and gas sector, the Inter-American Development Bank approved an US$11.6 million loan to assist the transition towards becoming a major oil and gas producing state.

According to the IDB, the project is designed to support the strengthening and the sustainability of the energy sector by contributing to the institutional development of oil and gas governance and the development of cleaner energy sources for electricity generation.

The objectives of the loan program are to develop a management and planning framework for Guyana’s oil and gas sector and to contribute towards the development of a policy framework so that Guyana may diversify its electricity generation matrix using cleaner or renewable sources.

The Bank says Guyana’s new energy scenario, which will likely yield significant revenues for the government, represents a transformative shift in the country’s development trajectory. It embodies a crucial and unprecedented opportunity for economic growth and sustainable development.

The conversion of short-term oil wealth into long-term, well-being, hinges on the capacity of the Government to adequately manage the new sector and enact productivity-enhancing reforms.

If handled well, it can boost the overall standard of living but, there is considerable work to be done so that Guyana can enjoy the benefits of its recent — and potential – oil and gas wealth.

The IDB noted that too often resource-rich countries have become or remained poor as a result of inadequate resource management. Hence, there is an urgent need to improve the governance of Guyana’s oil and gas sector ahead of the start of production in 2020.

“The agreed-upon policy commitments of the first tranche of the program are as follows: (1) creation of the Department of Energy (DE) within the Ministry of the Presidency to take over responsibilities related to the governance and development of Guyana’s oil and gas sector; (2) approval by the DE of a draft roadmap to develop Guyana’s oil and gas institutional framework, and; (3) design of a model contract for future Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) by the DE and presented to Guyana’s Ministry of the Presidency. The agreed-upon policy commitments for the second tranche are: (1) a DE functions manual establishing its organizational structure, budget and staff allocation, approved by the Ministry of the Presidency; (2) a PSA set of protocols and mechanisms for contract management; and (3) an oil and gas depletion policy designed by the DE and presented for approval to the Ministry of the Presidency. Finally, the program will aid Guyana’s Government with the development of a policy framework to diversify and promote the sustainability of Guyana’s electricity generation matrix”

The loan is funded in two components totaling US$11.64 million. The first component will total US$5.82 million from the IDB’s Ordinary Capital, disburse within two years, with a grace period of 5.5 years, and an interest rate based on LIBOR. The second component will total US$5.82 million from the IDB’s Concessional Ordinary Capital, disburse within two years, with a grace period of 40 years, and 0.25% interest rate. The executing agency will be Guyana’s Ministry of Finance (MoF).

Empress of the Seas Saves 2 lives

Royal Cruise ship Empress of the Seas rescued two Costa Rican fishermen who were adrift since December 1, between Jamaica and Cuba. Royal Caribbean Chief Meteorologist James Van Flee said they left Porto Limon, Costa Rica to fish and their vessel had been blown away from the location where they had left their gear. They ran out of gas and were adrift for 20 days.

Image Courtesy: Royal Caribbean

Britain

Caricom and US condemns Venezuela 

 

Britain, United States and the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) backed Guyana as Venezuela scolded the USA for entering the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy over allegations of a maritime incursion by ExxonMobil contracted seismic data collection ships. UK High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn said

“The rule of law must be respected and those who have the legitimate permissions to operate and undertake their activities must be allowed the do so.” Britain is the second major Western superpower to defend Guyana, after Venezuela’s Navy attempted to land a helicopter on The Bahamas-flagged Ramform Tethys, a seismic research vessel that ExxonMobil hired from the Norway-based Petro Geological Services to gather data from the western end of the Stabroek Block. Venezuela, on the other hand, said the seismic ship and a Trinidad and Tobago-flagged support vessel had been well within its maritime space in the Orinoco River Delta area over which it has “undisputed sovereignty”. High Commissioner Quinn, like the US, stated that “the UK (United Kingdom) is clear that the 1899 Arbitral Award settled the border between Guyana and Venezuela. We support the ongoing work of the UN Secretary General.”

The Venezuelan military exited the area and the ships have since moved further east.

CARICOM expressed grave concern about Venezuela’s incursion into Guyanese maritime space. “Such acts violate the sovereign rights of Guyana under international law, its entitlement to a territorial sea, Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf, and pose a threat to Guyana’s economic development and national security. The Caribbean Community reiterates its full support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, including its right to peacefully explore and exploit its onshore and offshore resources.”

In its latest position on this most recent border spat, Venezuela Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs (North America), Carlos Ron “emphatically rejected” the US’ position, suggesting that it was grounded in its support for ExxonMobil. “Instead of trying to ignite conflicts between peaceful neighbours in the name of business interests, the US government should, for the first time, respect international law and Venezuelan sovereignty. Take care of your own problems.”

US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs, Kimberly Breier said, “Venezuela’s navy aggressively stopped @exxonmobil vessels Dec 22 that #Guyana authorized to explore & exploit resources in its Exclusive Economic Zone, Guyana’s sovereign right. We call on #Venezuela to respect int’l law and neighbors’ rights”. “We underscore that Guyana has the sovereign right to explore and exploit resources in its Exclusive Economic Zone. We call on Venezuela to respect international law and the rights of its neighbors,” US State Department spokesman, Robert Palladino said.

The incident, according to Guyana, occurred at a position of N 09 deg 17.19 min / W 058 deg 16.20 min at about 140 kilometres from the nearest point to the provisional equidistant line with Venezuela, which said there were two vessels- the Ramform Tethys which was located at 09° 17′ 4″ North, 058°15′ 7″ West and the Trinidad and Tobago-flagged Delta Monarch that was located at 058° 17′ 3″ West.

Venezuela refused to enter a substantial appearance before the International Court of Justice to settle the controversy over the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award that Guyana has historically maintained settled the land boundary between the two countries. Venezuela wants the matter to be dealt with bilaterally through mediation, a 50-year old process that Guyana has said has failed.

India

The renowned GEM Granites Group from Tamil Nadu, expects to start business in Guyana next year, initially exporting granitite stone products and timber, said GEM Director Mr Gunasekaran Raju.

STEAM

ExxonMobil donates equipment to University of Guyana

The UG Faculty of Natural Science received a boost from ExxonMobil, with a gift of specialised equipment worth over $8.3Million (US$40,000), including a Baader Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector, a Bsc Optics Diode Laser; Wireless Temperature Sensor; Demo Mirror Concave; 1 Meade Series 5000 HD-60 Eyepiece Kit; 1 Orion XX 16G GO-TO Truss Dobson Ian Telescope and ZWO ASI 071 Pro Cooled Color CMOS Telescope.

The donation followed a request after a fire in 2015 destroyed the section of the Sciences Faculty of Natural housing equipment for the physics laboratory of the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, the Computer Science Department and the specimen collection and equipment from the Department of Biology. Equipment was procured from two companies, PASCO and OPT.

The generous initiative highlights the determination of the department to recover and build new partnerships . The investment of Exxon Mobil and the university recognises the vital importance of rebuilding physics- not only quad physics but physics because of its importance to the other enterprises of the university.

Country Manager for ExxonMobil, Rod Henson, said Guyana will develop beyond its current stature and initiatives such as these will ensure all are prepared to benefit from the expected future economy. Education is a fundamental building block of individual opportunity. STEAM skills, in particular, are critical in ensuring today’s students are going to be prepared for the future opportunities both in Guyana and the broader world. Support in this area is really a strategic investment in the future generation. The agency is proud to be part of this important project that will continue to advance mathematics and science education at the university.

The contribution will make an impactful difference to the lives of the students. With the new equipment, the quality of the educational experience in physics courses has been lifted significantly. This is particularly important as the Faculty and University seeks to ensure it prepares graduates for roles in a more technologically advanced economy including oil and gas.

Publications

The Intellectual

 

Universities Caribbean 

In a major  transformation of the sector,  Vice-Chancellors, Presidents, and Rectors of  regional  universities and research institutes convened  to  plan the   future  of higher education  for the coming decade. Academic leaders from CARICOM, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Colombia, the French and Dutch-speaking Antilles—who comprised the independent, voluntary organization,  the Association of Caribbean Universities and Research Institutes (UNICA)— replaced the traditional association which existed since 1967 with  a new organization, “Universities Caribbean”.

The general mandate of  Universities Caribbean is to revitalize, energize, and effectively integrate the regional university sector and to enhance its quality and regional impact. The approved strategic plan of UC  is built upon three pillars: to improve the reputation of the sector; to enhance the resilience of the member universities and to increase  revenue.. Guided by the organizing principle of “One Caribbean Solution”, Universities Caribbean also approved key projects for implementation, uincluding  the promotion of student mobility across the region and creation of joint research projects around important regional challenges. Recognizing that no one university can find answers to regional problems such as Climate-smart actions, Blue Economy innovation, poverty and security, the university leaders pledged to create a One Caribbean University System.

If they raise their game Universities can pull the region  out of the economic and social mire. Moneyspinning  ideas  can evolve into businesses by strengthening  applied research, to stimulate growth and exploit technology. UWI, long intertwined with industry, can harness intellectual horsepower to boost food production, substituting healthy floral products for  unethical tobacco and alcohol. This will bring health benefits and  curb imports, saving forex. As heads roll in the  industrial base, St Augustine can become a research hub to attract  a cluster of like-minded companies  which can tap into the talent reservoir and fund research into water buffalo for meat, milk and cheese,  tree fruits for juice and breakfast food, flowers for toiletries and pharmaceuticals,  nuts for detergents and oils, using cheap energy. Bamboo  can be promoted for  building material and textiles   while sequestering carbon and conserving river banks to maintain water supply. All these can recruit  the  army of unemployed now licking its wounds after retrenchment  and bulging with an underclass.

The more people are actively engaged in the economy, the more likely the economy is to grow. Universities can  retrain Perennials.   Older workers     who return to the workforce  represent a powerful new demographic who are solving  the oil industry’s  skills gap in  industrialised nations.   In  a global shift,  labour force participation is rising among workers aged 60 and over with  many  moving  to  short-term or part-time ‘bridge jobs’ in  knowledge-based  engineering and technical  professions. Productivity increases with age in this  dynamic segment with valuable experience and stronger problem-solving skills. 

Coral First Aid

Recent years have seen the growth of a number of initiatives aimed at regrowing coral reef in the Caribbean — notably the Coral Restoration Foundation in Bonaire. Another drive has launched to rebuild coral reefs. The nonprofit Tourism Cares, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), and the Grupo Puntacana Foundation in the Dominican Republic partnered on a Coral Restoration Capacity Building Project to assist three regions where hurricanes damaged reefs. Two delegates each from Dominica, the British Virgin Islands and the US Virgin Islands spent a week in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, completing a Coral First Aid Certification training program. More individuals from the affected territories will be trained by these graduates to assist restoration. Coral reefs have declined by as much as 50 to 80 percent in the last 30 years.

Upon completion of the Coral First Aid Certification graduates are able to, transfer skills, identify, construct and prepare at least two different types of nursery propagation platforms; set up new nurseries; attach coral fragments for propagation; perform regular maintenance; collect performance data using established standardized procedures and properly harvest and transport coral fragments and colonies.

Banks  Abandon  Bantams