Qatar to help Guyana with gas utilisation, leak mitigation plans – Bharrat

…experts to arrive next week

Guyana will be receiving assistance from Qatar when it comes to the formulation of a plan to utilise and monetise the gas supply it will get when the Gas-to-Energy project comes online.
This was revealed by Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat during consideration of the budget estimates. He was asked by parliamentary Opposition for an update on the gas utilisation plan, and Bharrat revealed that Government is getting help from Qatari experts.
“We have managed, through His Excellency President Ali and the recent visit of the Petroleum Minister from Qatar to Guyana, we have managed on building our relationship to secure two experts that will be in country next week. That is, Qatar sending two experts to Guyana to assist us with this very plan that the honourable member spoke of:
the gas leak and gas utilisation and monetisation plan; and at no cost to us.
This is Qatar’s way of showing its appreciation to Guyana. They will be paying for that,” Bharrat has said.
Late last year, Energy Affairs Minister of the State of Qatar, and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Energy, and Chairman of Qatar Airways, H.E. Engineer Saad bin Sherida Al-Kaabi, paid a visit to Guyana during which he met with President Dr. Irfaan Ali and Cabinet and discussed areas of cooperation.

2023 allocations
With the allocation of $500 million for 2023 under the oil and gas sector development programme, Bharrat explained that the allocation will, among other things, cater for the creation of an oil and gas data management system. The 2023 allocation is being financed from external sources.
“There’s an allocation here to get a consultant, of course to look at our needs as a country. Because we would have to determine, first of all, what data we need to store, the size of the data, what software and hardware will be needed, the specifications and requirements,” he explained.
“These are all information we need upfront. So, there’s an allocation here to hire a consultant to start the initial work, so that we’re advised properly before we rush into setting up data repository in Guyana,” the Minister has said.

Local data repository
Bharrat noted that the setting up of a local data repository is a very technical endeavour, but once this data is set up locally, Guyana could actually earn more money, as companies would have to come and purchase data packs.
He explained that, currently, Guyana only gets a 50 per cent cut when its own data is purchased from offshore location. It was at this point that Alliance For Change (AFC) Member of Parliament David Patterson questioned whether the programme catered for a gas leak management plan and requisite studies.
“These studies are ongoing. The operator has been assisting with all the studies, along with our technical teams. So, you would not see an allocation assigned to it, but it is being done between ourselves and the operator. They’re actually paying for it, in other words.”
Asked by Patterson if having Exxon finance these plans is a sustainable option, and whether independence can be maintained, Bharrat noted that the Government still has to review whatever plans the operator submits. In fact, he pointed out that it is built into the operator’s licence.
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.
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, which 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, 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 fibreoptic cables, and will terminate at Hermitage, part of the Wales Development Zone (WDZ), which will house the gas-to-shore project. (G3)