With Guyana looking to start manufacturing its own fertiliser, Brazil has already expressed its interest in importing the chemical from this country to support its massive agriculture industry.
This was shared by the Vice Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil, Cleber Soares, during a recent engagement with President Dr Irfaan Ali and other officials at the Office of the President in Georgetown.
Minister Soares explained that fertiliser in general, especially nano-fertiliser, is very important for the Brazilian agriculture sector as well as for the tropical food production system that is being built out between the two neighbouring countries.
In fact, the Brazilian official disclosed that last year alone, Brazil imported more than 90 per cent of the fertiliser that they used for agriculture – something which he says they can partner with Guyana on when the country starts to produce.
“Then why not we enhance our partnership between Brazil and Guyana to do different kind of commerce, different kind of market access? Like we can send how much you need [in] grains and fruits and vegetables, and they can do good market, good commerce…and combine with fertiliser. Then I’m sure that partnership have everything to be very strong,” the Vice Minister stated.
President Ali had long identified Northern Brazil as a major commercial hub for Guyana to tap into, adding during Tuesday’s engagement that the two South American neighbours can work together to leapfrog the regional food system.
“I’m very pleased of this level of cooperation and very pleased of the success that we’ve been able to achieve so far. There’s a lot of work to be done. We’re opening up tens of thousands of acres of new land, and we want a lot of the ideas.”
“Fifty years ago, Brazil imported more than 80 per cent of their food. Today, you’re exporting; you’re a net exporter to more than 190 countries. I think that we have been able to fast-track that over the last five years. We have three, four years more for this to mature out, and I think that we’ll be a major player in the food market within the region, especially with the right partnership…we can really leapfrog the food production ecosystem to something that is scalable and [into] global industries,” the Guyanese leader stated.
Gas-to-Energy (GtE) project
With the model GtE project being constructed, the Guyana Government is looking to use the natural gas that will be piped onshore from the Stabroek Block for a number of industrial facilities at the Wales, West Bank Demerara, site, including a fertiliser manufacturing plant.
The planned US$300 million facility will be designed to produce roughly 300,000 tonnes of ammonia and urea annually, using around 20 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) of gas from Phase Two of the Wales Pipeline.
The project, pegged at some US$300 million, is expected to be ready by 2027/2028, when the Gas-to-Energy Phase II will come on stream.
The proposed Guyana Ammonia and Urea Plant (GAUP) will manufacture and sell fertiliser to the local and regional markets. According to the Guyana Government, the objective of GAUP, a company to be set up, is to lower fertiliser prices for Guyana and the broader region, including Northern Brazil and the Caribbean.
Already, 10 proposals were received to design, engineer, construct and operate the ammonia/urea plant.
These include a proposal from United States-based Lindsayca Guyana Inc – the company that is constructing the highly anticipated Gas-to-Energy Project at Wales.
Also interested in the fertiliser plant are several Chinese consortiums: China CAMC Engineering Co (CAMCE), China National Chemical Engineering Co (CNCEC) and Dubai-based East Consulting Engineering Company (ECEC), China Railway First Group Co Ltd and SEDIN Engineering Co Ltd, Hualu Engineering & Technology Co Ltd and China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation, and China Wuhan Engineering Corporation Limited.
Phoenix Welding & Fabricating Inc, a Trinidad-based company operating in Guyana; Ideal Engineering Services Inc, a locally registered company in a consortium with Nigeria-based Montego Upstream Services Ltd; Northern EPC Alliance (NEA); Lee Kieswetter Heavy Civil (LKHC); and Valour EPC of Canada were also among the bidders.
Another consortium of Japan-based Morimatsu, Arkad SpA of Italy, and Netherlands-based CC7 Europe; and Kalpataru Projects International Limited, an India-based company operating in Guyana, also submitted proposals.
These proposals, which were received in March of this year, are being evaluated.
Meanwhile, last October, Guyana introduced nano-fertiliser – a move that was described by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha as a game-changer in the local rice industry, promising lower production costs, improved soil health, and higher yields nationwide.
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