For us mortals, gas is bad news, since it can cause so much pain before we pass it out. And then it causes so much embarrassment that we feel like we could pass out!! But the “natural” gas that’s associated with oil underground, or by itself in “gas fields”, is a whole different proposition!! The local boss of the ExxonMobil (XoM) consortium, that runs their cash-cow Stabroek Block, just announced that their latest strike awaiting development approval – Longtail – has at least ONE TRILLION CUBIC METRES (cum) OF NATURAL GAS!!
Whew!! That’s a heck of a lotta gas!! Overall, the early seismic studies indicated that Stabroek has some SEVENTEEN TRILLION cum of gas; so, your Eyewitness thinks that maybe it’s time we discuss this natural resource. The first thing we should know is that it’s actually a “gas”; you know, one of the three forms in which matter exists: solid, liquid and gas, and not “gas” like gasolene!! And, as such, by lowering its temperature, we can change it into a liquid, and eventually a solid!! The second thing is that it’s made up of the same elements as petroleum – hydrogen and carbon – and can therefore also be burnt to give energy. Like when we burn it to cook our vittles from those tanks that keep exploding!!
And that’s why we’re bringing some of it in pipelines from the Lisa fields – to burn to produce the 250MW of electricity at the Gas-to-Energy project at Wales!! That gas is “associated” with the oil we and XoM are selling, and is separated by the FPSO. In the agreement – that’s so contested by a few diehards – EoM can use the gas to pump back into the field to force out more oil, or can ship it to us, since it’s ours!! But that’s where we face the first hurdle if we start thinking about monetizing it – “shipping” it to customers!!
Those pipelines don’t come cheap – as we should know from the US$800M bill XoM’s gonna present to us once the deal to ship per day the projected 50 million cubic feet (mcf/d) of natural gas ashore gets going!! The Wales plant is gonna separate some heavier gases to produce 4000 barrels of natural gas liquid (NGL), to leave the methane we burn. Now, let’s not confuse NGL with liquified natural gas (LNG). “Say what?” you exclaimed. Well, NGL comes from those heavier components of natural gas, like ethane and propane, that are liquified under some high pressure; unlike the main component of natural gas – methane – which needs an incredible cooling temperature of -162 degrees Celsius to be formed!!
And that’s gonna be the new challenge: how do we create LNG to ship to the foreign markets??
…on their own??
Ahhh…your Eyewitness still remember that day. The day in Jan 2023, when Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton; Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine; and members of Parliament Sherod Duncan, Nima Flue-Bess, Ganesh Mahipaul, and GTU Sen Secty Coretta McDonald – wearing her political hat – stood side by side with the holdout squatters of Mocha.
Twenty-eight residents had accepted the Govt’s offer of full compensation for their properties, a free residential house lot, and a grace period for the construction of their new homes. They’d been given notices to move since 2008 – and more recently, in 2021, when the highway started. But seven resisted upon exhortations by the aforementioned opposition leaders – who racially dog whistled that the PPP was gonna throw them (Afros) out and give the land to their (Indo) supporters! Three went to court demanding $200M, and not only lost corn and husk, but were fined $2M!! The Court ruled they had no rights as SQUATTERS, and had squandered the Govt’s humanitarian offer!!
Shouldn’t the Opposition instigators pay the charge??
…a bridge too far?
After Suriname’s latest reprisal of pulling out maps showing the New River Triangle as theirs, shouldn’t we rethink our decision to JOINTLY build that bridge across the Corentyne?? That map’s gonna be on their end!!
