The idea of capitalizing on the island of Grand Bahama’s deep-water harbor and its geographically desirable location for transshipping and processing U.S. crude oil has been in development in one form or another for several years.  Much of the necessary groundwork regarding project siting, environmental implications, Bahamian government requirements and concessions, land rights, and front-end engineering was accomplished over the past several years and with significant investment of resources by the project’s initial developer, Oban Energies, LLC.  However, the two-year business hiatus forced upon the world economy by the COVID pandemic upended both plans and progress for the original developers, which allowed Lucayan to acquire the project’s assets in 2021 and reignite its forward momentum.

Building from the existing foundation, and adjusting the original processing scheme to include full atmospheric distillation in a two-train layout, Lucayan advanced both the capabilities and economic returns of the project, making it competitive on a world scale basis.  In consideration of the economic environment in the post pandemic era, Lucayan has updated all construction costs, improved the design to better manage its Carbon Intensity, added safeguards for withstanding severe weather, and found options for improving product quality and value.  At this point in the process, agreements with commercial counterparties are being arranged, key contractors are being evaluated, and interest in equity ownership and site operation is being solicited.