The draft gas strategy, which will lay out the framework for Guyana developing its gas reserves, is expected to be completed within the next two weeks, at which time consultations on the strategy will be launched.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo made this revelation during his recent press conference. He also made the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government’s position known on the development works ExxonMobil recently started on the Haimara well.
“We’ve made it clear. We want to monetise our gas. The gas assets. We’re working on a gas strategy. I’m hopeful that within two weeks or so, we should be able to put the first draft out for consultations. And that strategy will outline, basically, our approach to the industry,” Jagdeo said.
“But we’ve had no further discussions at this point in time. We have publicly signalled that if those areas, like Haimara which has more gas than the other wells, that if they can’t be monetised and if Exxon doesn’t want to move on them, we expect them to relinquish it.”
According to the Vice President, it is important that these gas wells are available in case other companies are interested and willing to make the investment to develop the gas field. According to Jagdeo, Exxon’s developmental work on the well is timely.
“Because there may be others who would be willing to move on a project like that. That position stands. So given what we discussed with them, and that public pronouncement, they now have to do much more work. The appraisal of the assets, etc. And that’s what they’re doing. And we’re pleased that that’s being done,” the Vice President added.
In 2019, the Haimara-1 well was one of five wells in which oil was discovered, along with discoveries in the Tilapia-1, Yellowtail-1, Tripletail-1 and the Mako-1 wells. These discoveries had pushed the total estimated recoverable barrels of oil equivalent to over six billion. As of 2023, the estimated recoverable barrels of oil in the Stabroek Block now stand at over 11 billion barrels of oil.
It was recently announced by the Guyana Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) that Exxon had started work on the Haimara-2 appraisal well, using the Stena DrillMax, to explore the potential gas resources in the well.
The Guyana Government has previously declared its intention to monetise its largely untapped gas resources found offshore, which it said would help to open up new opportunities for trade and energy security between Guyana and its bilateral partners.
The National Gas Strategy will guide the best way possible to do this.
Jagdeo had previously said that once the just concluded oil blocks’ auction and the new model Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) are completed, Government’s attention will be turned to establishing this gas plan… a necessary component of the gas-to-shore project.
The gas-to-shore project, which is pegged at more than US$1 billion, will feature approximately 220 kilometres of a subsea pipeline offshore from the Liza Destiny and Liza Unity floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels in the Stabroek Block to Wales, West Coast Demerara.
Upon landing on shore, the pipeline will continue for approximately 25 kilometres to the Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plant to be constructed at Wales. The pipeline would be 12 inches in diameter and is expected to transport some 50 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of dry gas to the NGL plant, but has the capacity to push as much 120 mmscfd.
The main feature of the gas-to-shore initiative is a power plant that will generate 250 to 300 megawatts of power using natural gas from offshore, which will significantly reduce the cost of electricity in Guyana. The aim is to deliver rich gas by the end of 2024 for the power plant while the NGL facility is slated to be online by 2025.
The gas-to-shore project, which has a 25-year lifespan, is expected to employ up to 800 workers during the peak construction stage, as well as some 40 full-time workers during the operations stage, and another 50 workers during the decommissioning stage.
There has also been talk of an energy corridor for some time, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) conducting both baseline and pre-feasibility studies. Guyana is, in fact, a party to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Northern Arc (Arco Norte) Interconnection Project which seeks to evaluate the feasibility of possible collaboration on the energy transmission system for the electric interconnection of Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and the northern cities of Brazil.
