ON May 4, a delegation of more than 30 Guyanese attending the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, toured the facilities of US-based consortium, CH4-Lindsayca (LNDCH4).
In December 2022, the company was awarded a US$760 million contract to develop infrastructure for an integrated gas facility at Wales, West Bank Demerara.

Representatives of the US Embassy in Guyana met senior leadership which included Nelson Drake, the Chairman of LNDCH4, who said: “Although we are a US-consortium, our aim is to use as much local content as possible in Guyana. In addition to engaging services from businesses in Guyana, we also aim to hire approximately 1,500 – 2,000 people in-country.”

These jobs will be largely created during the construction phase and should provide much needed transferable skills as a plant of this size and scale, has never been constructed in Guyana.
Executive Secretary of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI), Kathy Smith, also commented: “The presentation given highlighted the phases of the project towards production of reliable and cost-effective source of energy for power generation, thereby reducing electricity costs and improving energy security. Also important is job and local partnership opportunities that will spur economic growth, particularly in the West Coast Demerara region.”

The visit pointed toward the continuation of positive progress on the much-anticipated Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project which is expected to come online by 2025.

The integrated facility will include a natural gas liquids (NGL) processing plant which will treat the gas to remove NGLs for commercialisation, and a 300 megawatts (MW) power plant that will use the dry gas to generate electricity for domestic use, all powered by around 50 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas brought via pipeline from Exxon-operated offshore oilfields.
Once piped ashore, the natural gas will power turbines that produce reliable, lower-emission electricity that should drastically reduce the burden of electricity costs on Guyanese households – which are currently among the highest in the region.

Estimates put the cost reduction at up to 50 per cent of current costs while doubling Guyana’s energy output. In the process, gas should replace large quantities of imported heavy fuel oil, a highly polluting fuel that many small and island nations rely on but that is subject to high and fluctuating global energy prices.

When it comes to the GtE project, discussion of energy security is interchangeable with that of financial security and the economic benefits of this initiative cannot be overstated.

In an opinion piece on May 8, opposition Member of Parliament Jermaine Figueira said that the project “can be a game-changer for the country” by securing reliable and stable power to an area that has been plagued by load shedding and rolling blackouts.

By addressing these fluctuations in the energy supply, economic development would experience an unparalleled boost. Individuals, small businesses, and industry would have steady access to affordable energy, thereby enabling them to engage with growing and diverse markets and produce a new range of products in Guyana economically.

This, in turn, should lead to greater foreign investment and income generation, more financial resources for the country, job creation, and opportunities for partnership both domestically and abroad.

While progress on the planning for the facility proceeds at a steady pace, public feedback is a crucial part of the process as Guyana undergoes an economic transformation and especially as this project represents one of the single largest onshore investments in our history.

Regulatory agencies and government bodies continue to conduct their due diligence into the project in accordance with the law. Local content contributions, protecting environmental treasures and securing Guyana’s investments continue to be top of mind for the government. If executed quickly, carefully and with sustainability in mind, Guyanese should be enjoying greater economic gains and energy savings in a remarkably short timeframe.