Preparatory work has largely been completed on the 100 acres of the Wales Development Zone (WDZ) site that will hold the integrated plants for the gas-to-energy project, and according to Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), the site has since been handed over to the Government.
Providing this update was EEPGL President Alistair Routledge, during a recent press conference during which he noted that a lot of progress has been made on the gas-to-energy project. He noted that the completion of the pipeline is still very much on track for 2024.
“I want to highlight the gas-to-energy project. Very important for everybody. Of course, we see the challenges with power generation and these days and the distribution…. so, we did site clearing and preparation of 100 acres, which is where the integrated plant will be based, which will separate the Natural Gas Liquids, the cooking gas, from the methane in order to provide separate revenue streams to the Government and also to provide methane to the power stations.”
“The power stations will be built there. So that 100 acres, all the preparatory work has been completed and we’ve handed that over. And Lindsayca CH4, the company designing and constructing the integrated plant, has started installing what are called wick drains to start draining and settling of the land in preparation for the civil works construction.”
“Other than that, in the early works we’ve also been reinforcing bridges, improving roads for heavy vehicle access and constructing a material offloading facility on the West Bank of the Demerara. That has progressed extremely well,” Routledge further explained.
According to Routledge, the contractor on this project, Gaico Construction, has substantially completed the material offloading facility. Additionally, the executive explained that Exxon is in the process of handing over this facility to the Guyana Government and Lindsayca CH4.
“That will be the manner in which they will bring in the parts of the plant that will be built in the Wales district. So really good progress in the early works. The pipelines, you’ll find we’re already welding and laying pipe onshore. We drilled horizontally under the seawall, near Crane.”
“So, the pipeline actually now passes under the seawall. And we’ve started laying in the shallow waters onshore. So, we’re on track for completion of the pipeline by the end of 2024, in line with the commitment we all made, to as soon as possible deliver more reliable, lower-cost power to the country,” Routledge explained.
Lindsayca/CH4 (LNDCH4) is a United States (US)-based consortium that is leading the way for Guyana’s gas-to-energy project. The Government had contracted Lindsayca/CH4 to construct the integrated facility at Wales, West Bank Demerara, to the tune of US$759 million, back in December of 2022.
As part of the Dr Irfaan Ali-led Administration’s energy policy, the multibillion-dollar model Gas-to-Shore Project received a whopping $43.3 billion from Budget 2023.
The scope of the Gas-to-Shore Project also 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 that 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 shore, 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 fibre optic cables, and terminate at Hermitage.
