Gas-to-energy project will save over US$150M in fuel import costs – Bharrat

…says project integral for building Guyana’s manufacturing sector

For the majority of Guyana’s history, the cost of energy has been a sticking point hampering the development of the local manufacturing sector. According to Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat, the gas-to-energy project will change this.
During a recent virtual programme, the Minister explained all the benefits Guyana stands to experience when the gas-to-energy project comes online, including saving between US$150 million to US$200 million in foreign currency that would have otherwise covered the country’s fuel import bill.

“Many of the stakeholders, be it in agriculture or forestry, or any other sector, when you try to encourage them to go into value added, that is the first issue they raise with you. The cost and reliability of power generation,” Minister Bharrat said.
“For instance, one stakeholder in the forestry said Minister, they cannot afford $1.4 million a month electricity bill, to go into value added. That is why this gas-to-energy project is so important. Because we need to build out a manufacturing sector. This will benefit us in so many ways. One, it creates so many jobs for Guyanese.”
He noted that this was one of the things the Government considered in situating the gas-to-energy project in Wales, on the West Bank of Demerara (WBD)… since this was one of the hardest hit areas when the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) closed sugar estates.
Minister Bharrat stressed that the gas-to-shore project in the long term is not only about the power plant or the Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plant. Rather, he said it is about what will happen in the area surrounding those two plants, as the Government builds out one of the largest industrial parks.
“Two, we produce our own goods and services right in Guyana. Obviously it’s cheaper. We don’t have to pay shipping tax and any other charges attached to it. Thirdly, we save on foreign currency because we don’t have to import products. We’re manufacturing it right here. The Government earns revesnue.”
“And we save on the gas-to-energy project directly and save on the importation of fuel. Because we are using gas to generate electricity, as opposed to spending maybe $150 million to $200 million right now on the importation of fuel to fuel the generators,” Minister Bharrat further said.

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 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.
The pipeline would be 12 inches wide, and is expected to transport per day some 50 million standard cubic feet (mscfpd) of dry gas to the NGL plant, but it has the capacity to push as much as 120 mscfpd.
The pipeline’s route onshore would follow the same path as the fibre optic cables, and will terminate at Hermitage, part of the Wales Development Zone (WDZ) which will house the gas-to-shore project.
In Budget 2023, the gas-to-energy project received a $43.3 billion allocation. This allocation is in addition to the $24.6 billion injected into the start-up of the transformational project, which includes the construction of an integrated Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) Plant and the 300-megawatt (MW) Combined Cycle Power Plant at Wales, WBD.
The NGL and 300 MW power plant components of the gas-to-shore project, are meanwhile expected to cost US$759.8 million and will be financed through sources that include budgets and loan financing. (G3)