Requests for Proposals, finalising National Gas Strategy can go in parallel – VP

Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has defended Government’s decision to launch a Request for Proposal (RFP) to develop Guyana’s gas resources offshore, while still in the process of finalising a National Gas Strategy.
He said the work of these two initiatives can go parallel.
“We believe we can move parallel to each other because we already know the objective of the gas strategy… We give [the potential investors] guidance on what we expect them to put forward as part of the proposal – pretty detailed guidance in the Request for Proposal,” Jagdeo noted during a press conference on Thursday.
Government has already made it clear that its goal is to find the best option forward to monetize its gas resources.
As such, in October 2023, Government had released the draft National Gas Monetization Strategy to the public for their feedback. The aim was to simultaneously work on finalising the strategy while getting comments from the public thus saving on time.
According to the Vice President, they were in process of the integrating the comments received into the final strategy document.
“So, we had a Discussion Paper that went out and we had a lot of comments on the Discussion Paper and we’re now getting all those comments from the oil companies, gas companies etc. and we’re going finalise the strategy. But the strategy basically is to monetise as quickly as possible,” he posited.
Economic opportunity
Previously, Jagdeo had described the monetisation of Guyana’s gas reserves as the next wave of economic opportunity for Guyana. He had pointed out that now is the time for Guyana to move swiftly in developing this resource, which has a small window as the world transitions from fossil fuel.
Moreover, the Guyana Government has been receiving many proposals from bilateral partners and individuals about potential projects to utilize the country’s gas resources.
Consequently, Government launched the Request For Proposal for the ‘Design, Finance, Construction, and Operation of required Gas Infrastructure to Support Upstream Developments’.
The RFP invitation details that the Guyana Government “…is seeking the safe and timely development of its resources as well as creating an open-access infrastructure system for all existing and future Upstream participants to support current and future Upstream developments in Guyana.”
Applicants are being asked to evaluate the commercial, technical and environmental feasibility for the proposed gas infrastructure.
“This project will be strictly financed and owned 100% by the private sector. As part of this RFP process, the selected Applicant, if any, with the most optimum solution for the Project, will have exclusivity to negotiate with the [Guyana Government] for its entitlement of gas to ensure the viability of the Project and the overall valve chain,” the invite stated.
The requirements of the RFP include: The Developer’s capability and credibility to execute such a project; Clear written agreements among the parties, and if a consortium, evidence of consortium agreement for this project; Site Plan for the project; Summarized and detailed project schedule; Project Costs; Project structure diagram; Business Plan; List of Legal Agreements; and Proposed Capital structure.
In the oil-rich Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where United States oil giant ExxonMobil and its partners – Hess Corp and CNOOC – are producing crude, some 17 trillion cubic feet of gas have been found with the Pluma and Haimara wells being proven gas fields.
According to VP Jagdeo, there is a general consensus among those who have approached government that timing is good now to develop the Guyana’s gas resources given that the world has agreed that natural gas has to be transitional fuel and that the project, if it’s not done very early, it will lose some of its feasibility in the longer run.
“We share that view that the gas resources must be monetize and two, given net zero and this window of opportunity, that this project if it were to happen that it should be done urgently… So, we thought even before even before we complete the gas strategy, since we know our objectives, let us explore what the interest is out there and whether it’s serious interest.

Then we can have that discussion with Exxon because Exxon will have to be part of this discussions too because they’re 50 per cent owner of the gas and we can sit down in a tripartite way and have a discussion around specific project.”
“We have discussed this matter with ExxonMobil. We said to them that we should move to monetize the gas resources. They continue to claim that a lot of this is associated gas which is a fact, with the exception of Pluma which has more gas than oil, and that they need a significant part of this gas to keep the reserve quality going. This is a discussion we’re having with them and will continue to have… We believe, however, that we may find enough gas to start the process of monetizing. We can achieve both objectives – keep reserves quality going and also develop a purely gas related industry, either for exports or value-added activities here in Guyana,” the Vice President posited.
Jagdeo had previously indicated that Government is not pleased with the pace at which ExxonMobil is pushing the development of gas and is looking at another partner. He believes the US company is more focused on developing the oil resources offshore Guyana and not giving the level of importance to the gas reserves as the government is.
However, VP Jagdeo pointed out on Thursday that there is a lot to be done before any decision is taken on a project to develop Guyana’s gas.
“There is urgency in this given what I mentioned but there are lots of moving parts here and there are lots of issues we have to still resolve before we can get to a project. So, we will focus on it intensely this year but I don’t want to tie us down to a particular timeframe given that there are so many issues still to be resolved,” he stated
The first priority, the Vice President noted, is to have detailed discussions with Exxon on the gas development, stressing the need for the two sides to share the common view that these resources must be developed and developed urgently because of this timeline.
“We believe that gas must be made available for a venture of this nature… And would [Exxon] want to participate in the project as a developer or would they want to just sell their share of the gas to the project… So, these are decisions that have to be made by them… So, that is why I said there are so many moving parts [before a decision is made on the proposals that would be received from the RFP]… But [Exxon] understand the urgency of this… At the end of the day, we have to look at what’s good for Guyana,” Jagdeo stated. (G8)