Cheaper energy will drive next wave of investments in Guyana – GO-Invest CEO

…says 60% of investors in Guyana between 2022&2023 were local

By Jarryl Bryan

In the wake of the discovery of oil in 2015, more and more investors began coming to Guyana lured by the growing oil sector. Now, with the impending commissioning of the Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project, expected to usher in low rates of energy, a new wave of investors is expected.
This is according to Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Peter Ramsaroop, during a recent interview with Guyana Times. He explained that from 2020 to now, investments have more than tripled, citing some international companies, including Baker Hughes, which set up a multimillion-dollar local supercentre facility for oilfield services and equipment back in 2022.
“Over the three-year period which we’re categorising, the investments were almost 1000 per cent the five years before in every sector. And definitely, the energy sector drove the first set of investments, given the Haliburton and Baker Hughes of the world.”
But Dr Ramsaroop made it clear that in terms of the sheer number of investors, the foreigners were not even the majority over the past few years. According to him, more and more locals are also seeing the opportunities brought on by the oil and gas sector and investing as well.
He said more than 60 per cent of investors in Guyana between 2022 and 2023 were locals. And more are expected to come on board with the GtE Project that will come online next year, bringing with it cheaper electricity rates.
Dr Ramsaroop stressed that cheaper electricity would be responsible for the next wave of investors in Guyana. “The next wave of investors is going to be driven by the gas- to-shore cheaper energy, the fact that we can go into manufacturing, we can go into agro-processing, we can actually do feed the Caribbean. The 25 per cent may be 50 per cent. And you’re going to find a whole new set of investors, [20] 24 and [20] 25.”

“Consider 24 the pivotal year and 25 the explosion year. And if you listen to the President’s vision, he has outlined that. And that’s what the next wave of investors will look like. It’s an exciting time,” the GO-Invest CEO said, adding that his office continues to push for more partnerships among the growing pool of investors.
Only last week, Winston Brassington, the Head of the GtE project team, said with the impending start-up of the GtE project, consumers could be seeing a 50 per cent reduction in Guyana Power and Light (GPL) rates by mid-2025.
The importance of Guyana growing its capacity for cheap, reliable energy has never been more apparent than now. Electricity demand has been steadily rising. This year alone, demand is projected to peak at 236 megawatts; however, GPL can generate only approximately 180 megawatts of power.
In 2020, the power demand was around 120 megawatts and this grew to 136 megawatts in 2021; 156 megawatts in 2022; and then peaked at 184 megawatts in 2023. Last year’s peak was recorded when all industrial customers were on the grid.
And with electricity costs slated to be significantly reduced in the coming years, there will be a significant surge in the demand for power in the near future, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had previously outlined.
The cost of energy has long been cited as not only a major bugbear for residential customers, but also a hindrance to commercial customers and the manufacturing sector. Only recently, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) held a press conference where it noted the massive industrialisation and growth of the manufacturing sector that cheaper power would usher in.
At present, the GtE Project will see the construction of a 300-megawatt combined-cycle power plant and a Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) Plant. Guyana’s GtE project also consists of the construction of 225 kilometres of pipeline from the Liza field in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where Exxon and its partners are currently producing oil. Approximately 200 kilometres of a subsea pipeline offshore will run from Liza Destiny and Liza Unity Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels in the Stabroek Block to the shore. Upon landing on the West Coast Demerara shore, the pipeline would continue for approximately 25 kilometres to the NGL Plant at Wales, West Bank Demerara.