2 weeks Ago
Dec 01, 2024 News ...
but still seeking partner to help fund initiative Kaieteur News- Fulcrum LNG, the one-year-old company that was awarded a contract by the government of Guyana to design, finance, construct, and operate a gas project to monetize the country’s resources claimed in its bid that it had access to finance to develop the venture. This is according to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo. The VP during his weekly press engagement at Freedom House, Georgetown explained, “The public tender was issued, public evaluators evaluated on the basis of the tender submitted and they scored Fulcrum ahead of others.
Fulcrum argued that they had access to financing and secondly that there are several large companies associated with their proposal.” Kaieteur News understands that 15 other firms tendered to develop the non-associated gas in the Stabroek Block, operated by ExxonMobil. On June 21, President Irfaan Ali announced that Fulcrum LNG was selected by the government to monetize the resources.
Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo A week later, on June 28, 2024, Fulcrum LNG in a statement said the main feature of its solution will involve the development of state-of-the-art gas processing and modular, scalable facilities to produce, Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) and NGLS/LPGs for Guyana as well as regional and global markets. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, the former Vice President of ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), Jesus Bronchalo stated, “We are honored to be selected to undertake this strategic energy infrastructure project. This opportunity aligns perfectly with our mission to deliver innovative, reliable, and sustainable energy solutions to develop gas resources.
We look forward to working closely with the Government of Guyana and other key stakeholders to ensure the success of this endeavor.” Despite informing government through its bid that the company is able to finance the gas project, Fulcrum LNG has no evidence of a completed project and has already hinted at seeking the help of Guyanese investors to develop the project. The statement issued by Fulcrum said, “In keeping with our project proposal, Fulcrum LNG is considering Guyanese investors in various components of the project.
” On Thursday, Jagdeo said that the government, Exxon and Fulcrum was still in the discussion phase of determining whether a gas project would be feasible. He explained, “..
.right now they are still in discussion or would be having discussions on whether such a project is feasible and then what would be the elements.” The Vice President outlined three key considerations for monetization of the resources at this time.
These include a floating platform to export Liquefied National Gas (LNG); to bring the gas onshore for industrial purposes or thirdly to bring the gas onshore to generate electricity for export purposes to Brazil. “So those are potentially three areas of demand. They have to decide first of all the availability of the gas and then the numbers and at that stage then it would be tested so that’s where we are at this stage,” Jagdeo noted.
CEO, Fulcrum LNG, Jesus Bronchalo The Vice President was keen to note that government was not worried about financing for the project at this stage since it is still being defined. In fact, he noted, “It may very well end up that there is no project or its not feasible and then if that’s the case that Exxon argues, then we may decide, we already started talking to Suriname because there are some gas fields that Exxon has that we may be able to work jointly with Suriname to link with their situation. They have more gas in their gas field close to our border, maybe do a joint project.
We are not putting all of our eggs in one basket.” About Fulcrum LNG Fulcrum LNG was founded by the former Vice President of ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), Jesus Bronchalo, five months after he left the company. He was employed with Exxon for 19 years and one month before his questionable resignation.
Bronchalo’s company was later selected by the Guyana government to design, finance, construct, and operate the required gas infrastructure to provide gas monetization solutions and accelerate upstream gas developments in the country. Research done by this newspaper found that Bronchalo appears to be one of the company’s two registered employees. Bronchalo, who left Exxon in February 2023, is not only CEO of Fulcrum LNG, but he also wears several other professional caps at the business he registered in July 2023.
According to company records, seen by this publication, Bronchalo is also Secretary, Treasurer, Director, and President of the company. From all indications, he has only hired one employee. Kaieteur News discovered that Ivor Ellul has been hired as Technical Director at Fulcrum LNG.
He was appointed in July 2023 and previously worked at Schlumberger GeoQuest and CiSK Ventures, Ltd, among others. Ellul held senior positions, including Managing Director, Chairman, CEO, and President among others in his career. The limited experience of the company has raised serious questions about its capacity to fulfill its contracted obligations.
Bronchalo never responded to this newspaper’s request for a comment, issued since August. (Fulcrum tells Govt. it has access to finance for gas project).
