Govt. discards bids received for gas-to-shore project

Dec 23, 2021 News

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…says not obligated to accept any offer, reserves right to negotiate with private partner

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Government has not only discarded the first set of proposals it received in September this year, for aspects of the gas to shore initiative, but also has completely re-designed the scope of works, to now instead build an integrated gas fired power generation plant, in addition to a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) factory.

Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL)—ExxonMobil Guyana—at the time had also pre-qualified firms for the NGL plant—a process now scrapped and will have to be restarted. The revised scope of works, according to a new publication by the Ministry of Natural Resources—requesting proposals from firms to be prequalified—said, the rationale “for the combination of the Power Plant and NGL facilities, is guided by the findings of EEGPL that there will be substantial savings from combining these two facilities.”

Government through the Ministry explained that as part of the gas to Energy project it has elected, “after extensive evaluation of technical and execution factors with EEPGL—ExxonMobil Guyana—to have the two facilities be “designed and constructed together.”
As such, the Ministry has since re-invited interested parties to be prequalified to engineer, procure and construct the two integrated facilities.

Under the revised scope of works, the government says it intends to build “combined cycle turbines, multiple fuel consumption (including rich and lean natural gas [per specification to be provided upon request], Natural gas liquids and diesel) Power Plant to generate up to 300MW of power with a net 250MW delivered into the Guyana Power and Light grid at a substation located on the East bank of Demerara.”
Additionally, the project will include 230 Kilo Volt (KV) substation and back up fuel capacity.
As it relate to the NGL Plant, this is expected, under the revised scope of works, to be able to process 60 million cubic feet of natural gas per day in the first phase and up to 250 million cubic feet of gas in the second phase.

Additionally, the plant must be capable of conditioning the gas (dehydration and mercury removal) and removing heavier hydrocarbons (propane, butane, pentane plus) in liquid form.
The project according to the Ministry will be located at Hermitage, identified as part of the Wales Development Zone with some 150 acres of land allocated for its purpose.
With regards the financial aspect of the project, the only reference indicated by the Ministry is that submissions should contain the bidder’s financial ability to undertake its commitments, namely the engineer, procure and construct “these two integrated facilities.”
Government in July of this year had invited Expressions of Interest (EOI) through the Ministry of Natural Resources, which had called for Joint participation in the proposed gas-to-shore project with the government and EEEPGL.
According to that invitation, the government and EEPGL were looking for partners “in designing or utilising the outputs from an NGL (Natural Gas Liquids) / LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) facility and related facilities.”
This included, according to the Ministry, design, construction, and financing of a power plant fuelled by Natural gas, where the power will be delivered into the Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) distribution grid. This is in addition to industries that can utilise Natural gas for, “Natural gas driven developments and growth.”

This has since been integrated, and according to the new invitation, the EOIs that had been received in September last for separate components of the then, segregated project and were prequalified, can also resubmit proposals.

In its initial request, the Ministry had indicated that the decision on Wales was taken after extensive evaluation of multiple sites with ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EEPGL).
The Wales Development Zone, it said, has been identified as the termination point for the pipeline from the Liza Area in the Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana.
The area encompasses over 14,000+ acres of land of which approximately 1,300 acres will be set aside for heavy Industry/gas-related investments.

The project, according to stakeholders, is expected to see some 27 kilometres of pipeline being buried from the Crane, West Coast Demerara (WCD) location to Wales, in addition to some 200 plus kilometres of pipeline from the Stabroek Block where the Liza Destiny Floating Production Storage and Offloading Vessel is located.

According to the administration, Wales will be the location for the termination of the gas-pipeline measuring over 225 km from the Liza Area.
Government at the time had also requested proposals “for small scale ammonia/urea, protein synthesis, cement, glass manufacture, ceramics, and other industries that rely on gas, steam, or electricity.” The Ministry in its invite did specify that government nor EEPGL “is not obligated or bound to accept or pursue any response to this document and reserves the right to pursue discussion with any company and to modify or annul the procedure under this document at any time without further direction, without thereby incurring any liability, financial or otherwise.”

 

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