Guyana mulls selling excess cooking gas to Brazil, other countries – VP Jagdeo

…says domestic, int’l demand for gas from Guyana already exists

Guyana has been receiving interest from other Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries for the cooking gas it will eventually produce once the gas-to-energy project comes onstream. According to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, Brazil is one of the countries that Guyana may end up exporting cooking gas to.

Jagdeo made this disclosure during a recent press conference where he stressed that Guyana already has both a domestic and international demand for gas even before the gas-to-energy project is complete.
“All of the gas can be sold for fertiliser, basalt, fibre, a whole range. They can even feed animals. So, the demand for the additional gas is already there. Once the power plant comes in, it’s starting to run, the 50 million (cubic feet of gas) comes in, then we can start to push to get the additional one.”
“Then that would be sold to the people for the other industries. So, they’ll be producing maybe urea and other things right here in Guyana. So, the demand is there. For the whole project, the demand is secure on the gas side,” Jagdeo said.
The Vice President clarified, however, that the intention is not to export the natural gas but rather to utilise it for domestic power. What they can export is the processed cooking gas, since Guyana is likely to produce far more than it can use domestically.

“So, we’re not exporting the gas. Because we’ll be utilising all the gas here. We would have more of the liquids than we could utilise locally. Say the cooking gas. It’s estimated that from our 50 million cubic, we’ll have three times the national consumption of cooking gas.”
“So, we’ll export some of that. We’re hoping into northern Brazil, but across the Caribbean people have approached us already. We haven’t decided where that will go. That will be done later,” Jagdeo said.
According to Jagdeo, cooking and propane gas can also be used for industries. He gave the example of the hinterland, where power is being generated using fossil fuel. According to Jagdeo, they may be able to put propane in tanks and transport to those hinterland regions for use.
The gas-to-shore project includes the construction of an integrated Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plant and the 300-megawatt (MW) combined cycle power plant at Wales on the West Bank of Demerara (WBD). 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.
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. In addition to the US$759.8 million Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract, the supervision of the NGL and 300 MW power plant components of the project will cost another US$23 million.
The scope of Guyana’s gas-to-energy 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 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. (G-3)