Exxon, Shell Western among 19 shortlisted for marketing Guyana’s oil

Nineteen companies have been shortlisted from 34 that last April expressed interest in marketing Guyana’s share of oil from the Exxon-operated Liza Destiny FPSO in the Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana, for a period of one year.

“This activity has now been completed successfully and the Shortlist of Companies, 19 in total, will progress at the next phase of the procurement process and exclusively and at the same time, receive the Request for Proposal (RFP),” the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP) announced  in a statement yesterday.

The MoTP made the information on the companies shortlisted available on its website following the initial announcement, after saying that the companies not shortlisted had not yet received notification on the status of their Expressions of Interest (EoI), as is required by law.

ExxonMobil, which is the Stabroek Block operator, and Shell Western Supply and Trading Ltd are among those shortlisted. Shell Western currently has a contract to sell this country’s first three million barrels of crude. When that contract is fulfilled, the new engagement will begin.

The other shortlisted companies are: China Offshore Oil (Singapore) International Pte Ltd

Hartree Partners LLP, Mercuria Energy Trading SA, Mercantile and Maritime (IMMS Ltd.), BP Products North America Inc., BB Energy Trading Limited, Freepoint Commodities,

Sinochem International Oil (London) Company Limited, Cathay Petroleum International Limited, Petraco Oil Company Limited, Total Oil Trading SA, Lukoil Oil Company / Litasco SA, PetroChina International (Brazil) Trading Limited, Equinor ASA, Vitol SA, Glencore Limited and Petrobras Global Trading BV.

Last month, the ministry had said that by June 25th the shortlist of firms to be invited to submit full technical and financial proposals would be completed.

It had said that only the firms which have been shortlisted will be notified and accordingly, published on the Department of Energy’s (DE) website. It is unclear how soon the 19 companies would be invited to submit full proposals and how long that process would take before the selection of a marketer.

After two extensions – one due to a flurry of questions over the process and the other to accommodate the disruption of global courier services due to COVID-19 – the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board in April received EoIs from 34 companies.

Firms were told by Guyana’s DoE when the call for EoIs was made that they would have to meet specific criteria outlined. These included that they submit their certificate of incorporation, certified true copies of memorandum and articles of association, a company profile showing the company’s capabilities, company tax clearance certificates for the last five years and a copy of the company’s health, safety and environment policy. In addition, they were also required to include their annual turnover over the last five years, code of conduct, details of their volume of crude oil trading and marketing, evidence of verifiable similar services and specific relationships and reference and testimonials for similar work.

It was stated that the companies would be evaluated in accordance with the procedures set out in the submission of a technical EoI, evaluation of EoI and creation of a shortlist and that only shortlisted companies would be invited to submit full technical and commercial proposals.

The MoTP’s statement yesterday said that a five-member Evaluation Committee was formed and tasked with producing a Shortlist of Companies. It added that after a detailed check of each firm’s EoI for general and technical data in relation to qualifications and experience pertinent to the assignment at hand, the selection was made.

Glencore, which is now among those shortlisted, operates in a number of countries and has been the subject of a number of investigations for “suspicion of bribery” and which was subpoenaed by the US Justice Department in 2018 over possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act relating to its operations in Nigeria, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo.  

Hartree, the company which told Guyana that an oil refinery here was not feasible, is also now shortlisted after it submitted a proposal.