Efforts to block financing for Gas-to-Energy project will not succeed – VP Jagdeo

– reiterates that project will be built

Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo is unmoved by attempts to block financing for the model Gas-to-Energy project, and has reiterated that the project will be built.
Last April, Guyana applied for a US$646 million loan from the US EXIM Bank to finance the Gas-to-Energy project, which includes the construction of an Integrated Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plant and a 300-megawatt (MW) combined cycle power plant at Wales, West Bank Demerara (WBD). This would utilise natural gas from the country’s offshore operations in the Stabroek Block.
That loan is still being processed by the US-based financial institution, and according to Jagdeo, it is moving forward.
“The Gas-to-Energy project will be built. It is a commitment we made, and despite every attempt…to kill this project, it’s not going to succeed,” Jagdeo told reporters at his weekly press briefing on Thursday.

Last month, on behalf of Elizabeth Deane-Hughes and Vanda Radzik, international lawyer Melinda Janki wrote this US Bank, urging it to withhold funding for the project. In her letter, the lawyer informed President and Chair of the US EXIM Bank Board of Directors, Reta Jo Lewis, of a ruling by the Guyana High Court that the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to grant the permit to Esso Exploration & Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) – ExxonMobil’s local affiliate – for the project was “contrary to law and was improper.”
However, Jagdeo’s position is that actions to block this financing would not succeed. Other than the good economics of such a project, he also pointed to the Government’s strong relations with the Bank.
“We have great relations with the US Exim Bank. We have had bipartisan support on this loan. Do you think a few loonies or others who have been trying to block this project, you think the people who assessed this project are as stupid as they are? They’re not! They come down here, the project’s economics is the greatest,” he declared. “As far I see, the loan is moving forward. We have a great technical working relationship with the EXIM Bank.”
In a letter dated February 7, 2024, GCCI President Kester Hutson further indicated to the US Bank President that the Guyanese business sector fully supports the GtE project, which he described as a “watershed initiative” for the country and its people.
According to Hutson, funding from the US Exim Bank would significantly contribute to Guyana’s energy transition, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and promote sustainable practices.
Hutson was quoted as saying, “This project is anticipated to reduce electricity cost by approximately 50 per cent – a material change in the cost of electricity for Guyanese citizens and enterprises alike. The GCCI sees this project as having immense potential to drive economic growth, enhance energy security, and promote sustainable development in the Western Hemisphere.”
The GCCI has expressed deep concern and strong condemnation of certain attempts by a small minority of individuals to discredit the GtE project and discourage the EXIM Bank from providing financial support for this landmark project.
“The GCCI is especially disheartened to see the vilification of a project that holds significant potential benefits for our nation and its citizens. We are appalled at missives penned requesting that the loan to fund the initiative be blocked”, the body has said.
Jagdeo had previously disclosed that Government can use bridge financing to get the Gas-to-Energy project underway until the EXIM Bank loan comes onstream. The Government has set aside a whopping $80 billion in Budget 2024 to advance the Gas-to-Energy project and its associated infrastructure, including transmission and distribution upgrades to offtake the power.
Thus far, the marine offloading facility has been completed, and 26 kilometres (km) of onshore pipeline have been installed. Once completed, the project would allow Guyanese to benefit from 50 per cent reduced costs in electricity.
The scope of Guyana’s Gas-to-Energy 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 would 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.
In last year’s national budget, the project received a $43.3 billion allocation, in addition to the $24.6 billion injected into start-up of this transformational project.
(G-12)