Latest update March 29th, 2025 5:38 AM
Govt.’s inaction sets back gas to power plant by two years – Ramson
The Coalition administration had ample opportunity to get the ball rolling on the much needed gas to power plant that would significantly reduce electricity costs.
Opposition Member, Charles Ramson
But instead of providing the necessary approvals for ExxonMobil to move ahead with critical studies and preparatory work, the government was caught once again, sleeping at the proverbial wheel.
Making this assertion during an interview with Kaieteur News yesterday was Attorney-at-law, Charles Ramson.
His conclusion was premised on an article this newspaper carried which featured comments from Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson on Guyana’s gas potential. The government official had said ExxonMobil is able to provide 30-50 million cubic feet of natural gas which is excess from the Liza Phase One field alone.
Minister Patterson had said that this would translate to about 200 Megawatts of power, therefore being
Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson
more than enough to power the entire Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) for over 15 years. Additionally, Patterson had said that the government was aware of this gas potential since 2015, and in subsequent media interviews, had said that a gas to power plant would have been possible for Guyana by 2021.
Ramson was quick to point out, however, that such a promise would have been possible had the approvals been given to ExxonMobil since 2018. But since that did not occur, the project has been set back by two years. In this regard, he reminded that the very Energy Department, by its own admission, had told the media fraternity that bringing gas to shore would only be possible until 2023-2024.
The Petroleum Academic said, “I know for a fact that they needed to give ExxonMobil the approvals by the end of 2018 so that they could go ahead with the preparatory work. These things take several months, for example, you have the Environmental Impact Assessment which would take some time…These and other critical works are at a standstill.”
He added, “This means that the project has been pushed back by two years and Guyanese who don’t have their electricity paid for them like the Minister does are going to continue paying one of the highest electricity rates in the region.”
The Opposition Member was adamant that what is being displayed by the government amounts to negligence. He commented that if the government was really serious about improving the electricity capacity then such a project should have been off the ground as fast as possible.
Further to this, Ramson called for the disclosure of more information regarding the gas to power plant. In this respect, he said that the citizenry needs to be aware of what financial arrangements are being considered for the project.
“Nobody has told us about what our deal is with the gas. What would be the financial arrangements? How are we going about this? How long would it take to pay back? What economic models are being used? These are things we need answers on,” the impassioned Opposition Member noted.
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