Crucial transformers, accessories for Gas-to-Energy, GPL enhancement projects arrive

– heaviest-ever cargo to be offloaded on Guyana’s shores

Guyana has received a shipment of transformers that will be installed in the Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project as well as in the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) upgrades, and with at least two of these transformers weighing an unprecedented 241 metric tons each, they have set records as the heaviest cargo ever offloaded in Guyana.
According to a statement, the transformers arrived last week on the BBC Echo Vessel, which berthed and offloaded the shipment at the Muneshwers Shipping, John Fernandes, and Guyana Shore Base Inc. Terminals.
A total of 16 transformers were delivered by the vessel. Nine of them were sourced by Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd (KPTL), which was contracted last year to provide engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for the transmission lines and substations’ component of the GtE project.
Cranes Guyana Inc. (CGI), a subsidiary of Muneshwers Limited and John Fernandes Limited, was awarded the contract by Boltcargo India to manage the discharge, side-wharfage, transportation, and storage of the nine transformers.
“These transformers will facilitate the creation of new substations, directly supporting the Guyana Integrated Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) plant and ensuring a reliable and robust energy distribution network.”
“Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI) discharged the remaining seven transformers aboard BBC Echo at their Houston facility for LINDSAYCA CH4, a company which has been commissioned by the Government of Guyana to construct an integrated Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) extraction plant and a 300MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plant,” the release explained.
Meanwhile, LINDSAYCA’s transformers are currently being stored at the GYSBI Industrial Estate at McDoom, where it was explained that the heavier three of the seven transformers, with a weight of 129 metric tonnes each, were offloaded in a tandem lift between Sammy Multilift Services Guyana Inc. and GYSBI. They are now awaiting transit to the GtE project site at Wales, West Bank Demerara (WBD).
The scope of Guyana’s GtE project 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.
It features approximately 200 kilometres of a subsea pipeline offshore that will be laid by ExxonMobil and 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. The pipeline would be 12 inches wide and is expected to transport some 50 million standard cubic feet per day (mscfpd) of dry gas to the processing facilities, but it can push as much as 120 mscfpd.
In last year’s national budget, the project received a $43.3 billion allocation, in addition to the $24.6 billion injected into the start-up of the transformational project, for the construction of the NGL Plant and the 300-megawatt (MW) Combined Cycle Power Plant at Wales, WBD. This year, a whopping $80 billion was budgeted to advance this project and its associated infrastructure, including transmission and distribution upgrades to offtake the power.
As of January, this year, the marine offloading facility has been completed, and 26 kilometres (km) of onshore pipelines have been installed. Once completed, the project will allow Guyanese to benefit from 50 per cent reduced electricity costs. The Guyana Government has envisioned the start-up of the GtE Project by 2025, thus realising its commitment to deliver cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable energy to the population.
This year, the remaining works include installing risers on the Liza Destiny and Liza Unity, the deepwater pipelaying, and connecting the pipeline to the power plant, which will not come on stream until the end of the first quarter in 2025.
While Exxon has assured that the pipeline would be completed by the end of this year as scheduled, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has stated that the pipeline would be tested and sealed until it is ready for use by the power plant.
Moreover, it is expected that the two Liza field productions will be taken offline to facilitate the pipeline connection to the FPSOs. However, there has been some controversy regarding LINDSAYCA/CH4’s dispute with the Government of Guyana, over the sum of US$50 Million that the company had been claiming over project timeline overruns. This resulted in efforts to set up a dispute adjudication board.