John Fernandes Limited moves to construct storage facility for hazardous materials for oil sector

Conscious of the fact that the country is in dire need for shore base facilities needed for the rapidly developing oil sector, John Fernandes Limited has decided to approach the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to construct a 5,000 square meter storage and transfer facility.
According to the project document perused by Kaieteur News, the proposed facility is expected to be constructed at Plantation Fairfield, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara. It will be strictly used for storage of products and equipment, repackaging of products into tanks, filtering product as they repackaged, quality control of the filtering operation, and transportation of inventory to supply vessel.

The document goes on to state that finished products imported from the US would be brought into Georgetown, Guyana and after clearance from customs, they would be transferred to the proposed site where most of the products are filtered as they are transferred into internationally approved transportation containers through a closed-loop system to eliminate vapor emissions. The developer, who is listed as Zach Gonsalves, stated that oilfield materials would be stored in these containers at the proposed site until needed offshore.

Upon receipt of the project summary, the EPA has asked for additional information specific to the containers which include the type of chemicals that would be stored along with the make and capacity of the containers.
Kaieteur News understands that the company plans to store materials such as asphaltene inhibitor, corrosion inhibitor, biocide, biocide filter, hydrate inhibitor, demulsifier, chlorine scavenger, defoamer and hydrate inhibitor. The product will be stored in tanks constructed from stainless steel and with certification from the International Organization of Standardization (ISO). The Fernandes Group was keen to note that material compatibility, material specific gravity, vapour pressure, and flash point are key elements which feed into the decision on the kind of container selected and used for transport and storage as well as the fill weight of the material.
The company has said that it intends to comply with UN package performance standards to ensure safety and regulatory adherence to laws and regulations.

GUYANA MUST PREPARE
Earlier this year, former Energy Minister for Trinidad and Tobago, Kevin Ramnarine, had cautioned during an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News that Guyana needs to increase its preparation to meet the demands of the oil sector or it will find itself overwhelmed. Unfortunately, Guyana has already found itself facing this crude reality as it is unable to meet the needs of the Liza Phase One Project which is using the Liza Destiny oil vessel.

Five more oil development projects are expected to come on board by 2026. These projects will also have floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels loading up the oil for sale and will require the services of shorebase facilities. Along with the Liza Destiny that is in operation, there are four drill ships and about 25 support vessels operating in the Guyana basin.

The former TT minister had recalled that international consultancy firm and trusted data provider, Wood Mackenzie, had said that Guyana would soon become the 11th nation in the history of the world to produce over one million barrels of oil per day. Taking this into consideration, he said that Guyana has to prepare its industry to be equipped with robust institutional capacity and legislation. He acknowledged that the Energy Department has made some moves in this direction but noted at the same time that it should have been in place since 2015. “The country is therefore a bit behind the curve at this time,” the now business studies lecturer said.

Ramnarine also said that it is critical that Guyana does not find itself in a place where the industry grows exponentially but the capacity to manage it does not. He said this was one of the blunders made by his home country while adding that Guyana has the good fortune of having borrowed experience as it endeavours to do better.