Proceeds will be used to expand operations

Durrant Pate/Contributor

NCB Merchant Bank (Trinidad and Tobago) has signed an agreement with for the disbursement of a syndicated term US$10-million loan to Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI).

The proceeds of the loan will be used to fund GYSBI expansion plans, which will allow it to expand its capacity in the delivery of secure open and covered storage, berthing for supply vessels, operational personnel, and loading/unloading logistics support.

Guyana Shore Base Inc is a Guyanese majority-owned company that provides a multi-use facility offering support and logistical services to satisfy the highly specialized needs of Guyana’s oil and gas industry. NCB Merchant Bank Trinidad and Tobago (NCBMTT) is a subsidiary of the Jamaica-based NCB Capital Markets Group, which announced the signing.

In a statement released announcing the signing, GYSBI General Manager Robert Albiez explained that “this bridging loan agreement is a precursor to a more significant multimillion-dollar deal involving NCBMBTTL and three other Guyana banks to provide capital for projects that will further build and enhance GYSBI’s capacity to support ExxonMobil’s offshore drilling campaign”.

NCBMBTTL has been providing financing in Guyana since 2015. It was part of a wider NCB syndicate out of Jamaica that extended a US$20-million loan to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO), and in 2020 NCBMBTTL arranged financing for Nabi/KCL Oilfield Construction Services JV to aid in their construction of a corporate campus in Ogle, Guyana for a prominent energy company.

“We were able to provide financing that is flexible, forward thinking, and facilitative of GYSBI’s business model,” said Marli Creese, head of corporate and investment banking at NCB Merchant Bank (Trinidad and Tobago) Limited.

GYSBI offers services ranging from waste management, chemical storage, warehousing, construction, supply chain management, expatriate management, and customs and logistics services. The company currently has four berths, 30 acres of developed land at its main port and owns and manages 140 acres of industrial estate.