– says external assistance being received; review to be completed by year-end
The Gas-to-shore project, which was subject to a 60-day review process earlier this year, is still being reviewed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as the agency makes sure that due diligence on the transformational project is done.
In an exclusive interview with Guyana Times, EPA Executive Director Kemraj Parsaram explained that they are still reviewing the project and that they are getting expert assistance in this regard, from both internal and external sources.
“We’re still reviewing, we’re getting expert reviews and so on, on these things and considering all the comments received during the 60-day public notice. So, we’re still undergoing the review, internally and with external help,” he said.
According to Parsaram, several persons would have made comments during the 60-day review process on the potential environmental impacts of the project, comments that the EPA is diligently addressing. Asked about a timeline for the completion of the review process, Parsaram said that this would be completed by year-end.
“More than likely, once we are satisfied from our review and we can make a determination whether the project can be approved or not, then we will definitely, within the timelines that are reasonable, make a decision,” Parsaram explained.
Procurement has already been started by the Government of Guyana for the gas-to-shore project. With a timetable to deliver rich gas by the end of 2024 and the Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plant to be online by 2025, works are progressing on getting the project off the ground. As such, during the first half of this year, Exxon was expected to source the materials and pipelines, so that they are available for when construction starts later this year.
The project will have a 25-year lifespan and is expected to employ up to 800 workers during the peak construction stage, as well as some 40 full-time workers during the operations stage, and another 50 workers during the decommissioning stage.
The gas-to-shore project will include a power plant and a NGL plant, all of which will be constructed within the Wales Development Zone (WDZ). When it comes to the construction of a combined cycle power plant, this will generate up to 300 megawatts (MW) of power, with a net 250MW delivered into the Guyana Power and Light Grid at a sub-station located on the East Bank of the Demerara River.
The Guyana Government has already invited interested parties to make investments in the WDZ, which will be heavily industrialised and for which approximately 150 acres of land have been allocated. Those lands were previously used by the Wales Sugar Estate.
Head of the Gas-to-Shore Task Force, Winston Brassington has previously stated that ExxonMobil Guyana, which is funding the pipeline aspect of the project out of cost oil, has found that there would be substantial savings from combining these two facilities.
The scope of the approximately US$900 million gas-to-shore 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.
It features approximately 220 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 WDZ which will house the gas-to-shore project.
