–owing to reduction in cost of electricity as a result of critical project, Vice-President Jagdeo affirms

–says persons campaigning against transformational initiative have no regard for its potential benefits

GUYANESE stand to save over US$100 million per annum as a result of the reduction in electricity prices after the Gas-to-Energy Project comes on stream, according to Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo during a press conference at Office of the President, on Thursday.

“Over a 10-year period, Guyanese would pay US$1 billion less in electricity bills,” the Vice-President emphasised during his response to efforts by a group of Guyanese trying to stop the project.
International Lawyer Melinda Janki wrote to the United States Export Import (US-EXIM) Bank to withhold funding for the project.

Janki on behalf of public-interest litigants, Elizabeth Deane-Hughes and Vanda Radzik, wrote to the Bank on January 12, 2024.

“Well they’re hopelessly misguided. [They’re] people who have done nothing for this country… their bread is well buttered,” the Vice-President said.

He then went on to remark: “They don’t care that this project will deliver cheaper electricity to our business community and to all our citizens.”

The Gas-to-Energy Project will see a 200km 12-inch diameter pipeline channelling natural gas from the Liza Phase One and Liza Phase Two Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessels to a power plant and Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility that will be built in Wales.

ExxonMobil’s local affiliate, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), the operator in the Stabroek Block, and its co-venturers are constructing the pipeline.

That pipeline will be landing on the West Coast Demerara shore, and continue approximately 25 kilometres to the NGL and power-plant facilities. It has an estimated cost of US$1 billion and is cost-recoverable.

In December 2022, the Government of Guyana and US-based integrated energy solutions group, LINDSAYCA, in partnership with a local firm – CH4 Group – signed a US$759 million contract for the construction of the power plant and NGL facilities.

The conversion of natural gas from ExxonMobil’s offshore operations to electricity is a key component of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government’s objective to lower energy costs by at least 50 per cent through an energy mix, which incorporates gas, solar, wind, and “hydro” power.