…will allow more investments in renewables
The gas-to-energy project, which is being financed by oil giant ExxonMobil, is a transformative venture that according to Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) President Alastair Routledge, will provide Guyana with a foundation for its renewable energy efforts.
In an interview shared by the company with the local media, Routledge described the present and future as an exciting time for Guyana. This is particularly in the context of the infrastructural works and their local content efforts.
“It’s an exciting time to be in Guyana. We’re in the early days of finding and developing the resource in the country. And I’m excited to see how that is already having an impact on local businesses and people.”
“We’re employing thousands of Guyanese already here. We’re seeing infrastructure improvements starting to take place. I think we’re really at the very beginning, with many opportunities.”
When it comes to the gas-to-energy project, which is already at a procurement stage where the Government is seeking to contract a firm to construct the components of the project under a combined Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) process, Routledge talked up the significance of this endeavour.
“I’m really excited about the gas-to-energy project. That will affect so many people in the country, reducing energy prices, making energy more affordable, but also providing a foundation for investment in more renewable sources of energy. So, it’s a really transformational project,” the executive said.
This is even as procurement has already been started by the Government of Guyana for the gas-to-shore project. With a timetable to deliver rich gas by the end of 2024 and the Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plant to be online by 2025, works are progressing on getting the project off the ground. As such, during the first half of this year, Exxon was expected to source the materials, so that they are available for when construction starts later this year.
The project will have a 25-year lifespan and 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.
The gas-to-shore project will include a power plant and a NGL plant, all of which will be constructed within the Wales Development Zone (WDZ). When it comes to the construction of a combined cycle power plant, this will generate up to 300 megawatts (MW) of power, with a net 250MW delivered into the Guyana Power and Light Grid at a sub-station located on the East Bank of the Demerara River.
The Guyana Government has already invited interested parties to make investments in the WDZ, which will be heavily industrialised and for which approximately 150 acres of land has been allocated. Those lands were previously used by the Wales Sugar Estate.
Head of the Gas-to-Shore Task Force, Winston Brassington has previously stated that ExxonMobil Guyana, which is funding the pipeline aspect of the project out of cost oil, has found that there would be substantial savings from combining these two facilities.
The scope of the approximately US$900 million 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 220 kilometres of a subsea pipeline offshore that will run from the 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 will terminate at Hermitage, part of the WDZ which will house the gas-to-shore project. (Guyana Times)
