Guyana to harness int’l technology, expertise to partner with locals for downstream opportunities

– strategy being developed to maximise local capital

With natural gas expected to be piped onshore when the highly-anticipated Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project comes on stream later this year, Guyana will be looking to tap into international technology and expertise to support the local private sector to take advantage of the downstream opportunities that will become available.
The US$759 million GtE Project will see the construction of a 300-megawatt (MW) Combined Cycle Power Plant and a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility built at Wales, West Bank Demerara (WBD), to utilise the rich gas resources that will be brought onshore from the Stabroek Block, where oil production activities are ongoing.

Works to build the power plant and NGL facility are ongoing, and the contractor, Lindsayca CH4 Guyana Inc. – a United States (US) based consortium of Lindsayca and CH4 – is expected to deliver power in a few months’ time; when this happens, Guyanese will see the cost of electricity slashed by half and benefit from reliable power supply.
On the other hand, the NGL facility will open up opportunities for downstream activities in the country. The downstream industry refines and converts oil and gas into finished products such as cooking gas – something that Guyana has set its eyes on.
During a recent appearance on the Energy Perspectives programme, President Dr Irfaan Ali spoke about the opportunities for investments in the downstream sector once the gas becomes available. He said the local private sector needs to work together to pool their resources so that they can benefit from this new industry.
“In the downstream, I think there are some opportunities here, first, for our local private sector. We want to ensure that we can leverage to the maximum, local capital, local private sector [and] local individuals. So, we want to work on a strategy that maximises local capital, that brings together all the local capital in the market. And we have to work on a culture of working together, building consortiums, building, you know, corporations [and] raising capital,” the Head of State posited.
However, President Ali explained that Guyana will also have to turn to its regional and international partners, harnessing their technology and expertise to develop its downstream industry.
“[We have to] maximise regional liquidity. So, we have first local [and] then regional, creating that partnership. And then to the international investors with the experience expertise and technology, looking at their experience, technology and expertise to partner with our local private sector to maximise the benefit that will be coming upstream and downstream,” he stated.
According to the Guyanese Leader, when the GtE Project comes on stream, in addition to cheaper power, Guyanese will also benefit from significantly lowered prices of cooking gas. This, he pointed out, will save the country millions of US dollars on imports.
Moreover, it will also earn the country revenue since the Government plans to export the excess gas that will come onshore.
“We’ll have enough excess to either go back into the [Caribbean] region or go to Northern Brazil, where there’s high demand. So, creating new markets, new exports and a new stream of foreign currency earning.”
“So that’s just one example. Then we are of the view that we will have just enough gas remaining on the first Project for a small fertiliser plant that could satisfy national demand. So that is an input cost now. We’ll save all of that US dollars from import. That’s the input cost now that would go to agriculture to reduce [costs]… If you can subsidise or bring down the cost as a result of this or fertiliser for the farmers, then we are incentivising agriculture production, and that is linked to our vision of becoming the bread basket of the region and a major player in the food industry,” President Ali stated.
The Guyana Government already anticipates that the GtE Project would earn the country as much as US$500 million in savings when electricity prices are slashed by half and from the sale of the rich excess gas.
Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had previously explained the addition of 300MW of power into the national grid would see savings to the tune of US$250 million per year.
“That is simply because we’ll reduce electricity prices from 22 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 11 cents per kWh. So, US$250 million per year in savings to the people of Guyana,” he stated at a December 19, 2024 press conference.

Jagdeo further explained that with this saving, it would take Guyana approximately eight years to repay for the entire GtE Project, which is pegged at almost US$2 billion including the cost of the US$1 billion pipelines installed by US oil major and Stabroek Block operator, ExxonMobil, that will be used to bring the gas onshore.
However, the VP added that the liquids that will come when Guyana cleans the excess gas for products such as cooking gas or Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) can be sold and this will further bolster the country’s earnings from the GtE Project.
“The liquids alone that we will get from the Project, if we sell it at current market price in Guyana, the same amount of liquid will raise another US$250 million per year…. So, it’s a massive [earning]. We will see about US$250 to US$500 million per year in benefits from that because we now have free electricity [and liquids to sell]. That’s a huge sum of money,” the VP stressed.
At least 50 million standard cubic feet of gas (mmscf) are expected to be piped from the Liza Field in the Stabroek Block to the GtE Project site at Wales.
In the Stabroek Block, some 17 trillion cubic feet of gas have already been found with the Pluma and Haimara wells being proven gas fields.
However, the 250 kilometres (km) of 12-inch pipelines that were already laid by Exxon to bring the gas onshore will only use 40 per cent of the pipeline’s capacity to gas up the Wales Project, bringing 50 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of dry gas onshore.
But with the pipelines having the capacity to push as much as 120 mmscfd of gas, Government is now moving ahead with Phase Two of the GtE Project that will utilise the remaining 60 per cent capacity of the pipeline and will see an additional 75 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of rich gas brought onshore.
Invitations are currently out for proposals to design, construct, and operate a 250 MW combined-cycle power plant, to deliver 2,100 gigawatt/hours (GWh) of electricity per annum, and sold to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc. It also caters for the design, construction and operation of another NGL facility to produce approximately 6,000 barrels per day (bpd) of NGL products such as propane, butane, and C5+gasolene.
Additionally, Phase Two also includes the transfer at no cost of excess “lean gas” estimated at 30 mmcfd, for utilisation in downstream industries, e.g. fertiliser production, to be located at Wales.
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has been adamant about utilising the country’s gas resources to advance national development.
US energy firm, Fulcrum LNG Inc., has been selected to work in a tripartite arrangement with the Guyana Government and ExxonMobil to develop another potential gas Project.