Oct 2016 Financial News

Galeota to be logistics hub

Oct 20, 2016

The National Energy Corporation (NEC) has developed plans to strategically position the port at Galeota as a preferred regional logistics hub. Gerry Brooks, chairman of the National Gas Company Group of Companies (NGC), NEC’s parent company, said the aim is to have a port operating model that improves efficiency. 

He said the first phase of the Galeota port project, which was completed in 2014 at a cost of US $100 million, will become fully operationalised in 2017 at a cost US$18.6 million. There have been firm expressions of interest from international and regional maritime players, he added.

Brooks, who spoke at the Caribbean Shipping Association’s AGM and Conference which ended yesterday at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain, said the facility will provide logistical support for new exploration work in addition its current role in maintaining services for platforms.

He said the second phase of the port of Galeota project includes creating a dredge depth of 12.8 metres and a total of 995 meters of quay wall space to cater to the needs of 60,000 tonne deadweight tonnage ships. This will allow for expanded exploration and production of oil and gas in Suriname, French Guiana, Guyana as well as local deepwater activity, creating employment and boosting the marine industry in the South-eastern peninsula.

The expected timeline for completion of construction is the fourth quarter of 2019 at a budgeted cost of US$130 million.

In relation to the port of Brighton and Labidco industrial cluster, Brooks said with the Juniper platform expected to come on stream by the third quarter in 2017, “it is expected that the fields will produce approximately 590 million standard cubic feet a day to meet the demands of the local downstream industry, electrical power generation supply, Atlantic LNG as well as other strategic gas-based projects with the intent of reversing the shortfall in supply that clients on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate are currently facing.”

He said developed port infrastructure increases prospects for major shipping lines using T&T’s port facilities as a hub serving adjacent ports with shallow natural drafts in Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela.

“We have been actively working with our Guyanese counterparts to identify all areas for collaboration and further development. These opportunities may include the transportation, processing and fractionation facilities for any substantiated natural gas, as well as utilisation of our existing port facilities during exploration works,” Brooks said.

Source:
Nadaleen Singh
Trinidad Guardian
Thursday October 20, 2016

http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2016-10-20/galeota-be-logistics-hub