Questions about gas-to-energy project

Feb 10, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – The Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), using its extensive experience, came up with 12 questions that could protect Guyana and enlighten Guyanese. It is a dirty dozen of questions, a set not to be welcomed in polite or compromised political circles.

The 12 questions all have relevance for Guyana, but we will paraphrase a small subsection of them to highlight the wise precautions that Guyana should take to secure the best from its resource wealth. It has to do with contracts, the probing questions, the thorough examinations that should be the mantra of citizens seeking clarity over what they are getting into, where such contracts could lead. What do Guyanese currently know about fuel supply and transport deals relative to the US$1.3B Wales Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project? The blunt answer is that other than top PPPC Government insiders, the rest of Guyanese know very little, which does not do much for them with the Wales GTE.

Guyanese know that it should cost US$1.3B, but that is as unsteady as a drunken sailor just off the boat, and in the teeth of a heavy wind. His sea legs are shaky, head fuzzy, and vision limited sums up where Guyanese are with the GTE that promises cheap electricity, and a dependable supply. Besides those two components, this is the state of citizens in this country who will be saddled with that billion-dollar debt, whatever the final figure is.

Now for some of the issues put forward by the NRGI. We must have a renegotiation clause in our contracts that allows for adjustments under changing circumstances, what are our oversight bodies (ministries, utility bodies, other stakeholders) doing about this? The fact that the ghastly 2016 oil contract imprisons this country’s parliament, backs its governments and leaders against a wall, and virtually chains our hands and feet should have been enough to unleash unprecedented rage in this society at all levels, through all persuasions, and from every corner and cranny of this country.

What has Guyana’s replacement crop of ruling politicians learnt, what do they intend to do, how do they plan to work around the clever schemes and shenanigans of ExxonMobil, which were all executed under seemingly airtight legal cover? What does this PPPC Government have in mind for times when there is excess gas not domestically needed and world prices have plummeted near to the bottom? Are there sturdy built-in cushions for this country that has been hurt so badly by the 2016 contract, with the biggest priority being what is right for Guyana, and not what facilitates ExxonMobil profiting still more? More questions percolate and should be tabled about the credibility of government projections, the role of elections and developing political scandals (all of which are local horrors), and gas as the best fuel for electricity output.

This is our compressed version of only some of the NRGI questions, which all have the highest relevance for Guyana. Of note, is this question: “Who supports and opposes the plans [gas plants] and why? To be clear, our opposition at this publication is to the blackout of supporting information on the GTE, which leaves Guyanese to contend with a thick wall of secrecy. Our position is that if the GTE is so good for Guyanese, then there should be every interest by the PPPC Government to share the richness of this project. A poor, constantly betrayed population like Guyana’s should not be asked to support blindly whatever politicians come up with, which brings more indebtedness, but of which they know the negligible.

Opposition to the GTE is based strictly on what Guyanese don’t know, but is compulsory that they should, so that they can make an informed decision, either for or against the project. Billion-dollar debt may be justified under limited conditions, including transparency, credibility, and honesty from those calling the shots. This has not been the case with the Wales GTE. We have not said anything about renewables, and if it is a better option. Or gas flaring and grid updates, with an eye to who pays. Guyanese want cheap, reliable electricity, but on terms they can endorse, and debt they can back. They have been crippled by numerous traps, thanks to ruling politicians.

Editorial, ExxonMobil, Guyanese, Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), Wales Gas-to-Energy (GTE)

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Questions about gas-to-energy project

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