Speaker turns down Opposition’s request for clarity on Wales Gas project

Feb 25, 2023 News

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…says Brassington already addressed issues at Energy Conference

Kaieteur News – Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir has turned down a request by Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Catherine Hughes, seeking clarity on the Wales, Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project.

Hughes at an Alliance For Change (AFC) press conference said yesterday that she received a call from the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs on Tuesday informing that the Speaker of the House will not allow her questions, submitted on January 20, 2023 since these issues were addressed by Head of the GTE Taskforce, Winston Brassington when Guyana hosted its Energy Conference.

“I had a very interesting telephone call on (Tuesday) from the Speaker of the House. I had actually laid in the Parliament close to 10 or 11 questions on the Gas to Shore project and not the Speaker, the Clerk on behalf of the Speaker was saying to me that my questions which I had laid many weeks ago could not be answered because in the public domain Winston Brassington had supposedly answered some of the questions,” Hughes explained.

She told the press that this response is “unacceptable” since the Minister responsible for the project has a responsibility to lay his responses in Parliament.

The MP argued, “The fact that the Clerk and the Parliament expects me to be going with whatever is reported in the media…is just bizarre that you would not feel that you have a responsibility to answer for Guyanese how this resource is being utilized and to answer any question.”

She pointed out that the government cannot be unwilling to respond to concerns depending on which MP raise those issues; in this case that represents a sizable portion of the population. Instead, Hughes believes, “They deliberately want to censor, to shut out any response to prevent any information being given to the public and that is what we are seeing for a long time.”

The AFC Chair reasoned that Guyana has moved from being updated weekly following Cabinet meetings, under the previous administration, to a state where politicians can now say “when we’re ready (and) if we feel like giving you information on your national resources, we’ll see if we feel like telling you that.”

In her 12 questions to the National Assembly, Hughes had asked if government has a Gas Plan strategy and if yes to divulge the terms of reference and say when this would be shared with the general public.

She had also asked under which budgetary allocation will the land acquisition for the right of way (RoW) for the Gas to Energy project pipeline be accounted for and the total value of the land which has been earmarked to safely execute and operate the Gas to energy pipeline project.

On the 300 megawatt power plant, the Opposition MP asked whether the export power cable that is being proposed to supply power into the Demerara Berbice Inter-connected System (DBIS) has already been conceptualised and designed; and if so by whom, and in particular will this cable be installed across the Demerara River and at which locations along on either bank will it enter and exit the river.

Also in her list of queries, Hughes asked who will own, manage and operate the pipeline after more than US$1 billion will be spent on the project, and for the total cost of upgrades to the national grid that may be required to facilitate integration of the transmission cable and the value of expected losses that may occur along the line.

In addition, she requested the total cost of the transmission cable and the total cost of the substation as well as the total cost of the transmission line to take electricity from Wales to the Eccles sub-station.

Hughes told this newspaper, “My position is that as the prime minister has ultimate responsibility for this project on behalf of the government of Guyana and he should be willing and able to answer these questions for parliamentary record and scrutiny and articulate government’s position and answer in the national interest.”

She said the ludicrous suggestion by the Clerk of the National Assembly is open to misrepresentation and inaccuracy which should not be the case on such an important issue.

“I wanted the answers to be provided from an undisputed source and to be recorded in the Parliament. The issue here is if there is nothing to hide, why won’t the PM be willing to answer to ensure clarity. So much for transparency and accountability,” the MP added.

This is the fourth attempt by the Opposition seeking details surrounding the controversial GTE project. So far, three of these have been unsuccessful. Shadow Natural Resources Minister, David Patterson on October 18, 2022 had asked whether any agreements were signed with Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) in connection with the Wales project and if yes, for the Minister to supply the House with a copy of the said agreement.

In response Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat explained that while government has inked an agreement with Exxon, the document cannot be made public just yet.

Additionally, former Health Minister and Opposition Member of Parliament, Volda Lawrence had tabled several questions in the National Assembly in January this year to ascertain the financing arrangements in place for multi-billion dollar GTE project.  In the questions posed to Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, Lawrence asked for the nation to be told the cost of the gas-to-shore pipeline project, and where or whom the government is sourcing the financing from.

Lawrence also asked for details on the associated terms and conditions. The former minister called on Phillips to state if there would be a contingent liability on the Government of Guyana if Exxon is unable to repay the loan it would use to cover the cost of the pipeline that would transport the gas from the Liza One and Two Projects to onshore facilities at Wales.

Meanwhile, Ganesh Mahipaul on February 6 also submitted a Motion to the National Assembly seeking the release of all documents for the Wales gas project.

In the Motion seen by Kaieteur News, Mahipaul said that in 2022, a total of $24,613,000,000 was allocated in the Budget for the project with another $43,300,000,000 approved this year towards the construction.

With over $67.9 billion already budgeted, the Opposition Parliamentarian pointed out that the House is yet to be provided with the Final Investment Plan. He also noted that the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) Government signed a Heads of Agreement with the Stabroek Block co-venturers, ExxonMobil, Hess and CNOOC on June 30, 2022.

To this end, Mahipaul said in his motion, “BE IT RESOLVED that this National Assembly instructs the Minister of Natural Resources to forthwith lay over to the National Assembly all documents relating to the construction of the Wales Gas-to-Energy Project and the Heads of Agreement signed on June 30, 2022.”

Mahipaul further stated that the Motion is submitted against the backdrop of the Government clearly spending huge sums of taxpayers’ money without notifying the citizens what the agreement is between the Government and investors.

Since the inception of this US$2B project, the entire agreement has been shrouded in secrecy. When the Heads of Agreement was signed, the press was invited but was not allowed to ask questions. There has been no press conference on the mega project too, even though there is no updated feasibility study proving the viability of the project.

Government said the venture will lower electricity costs by 50 percent, however independent analysts have said this may not be possible due to the increased price tag of the project.

The Wales GTE project entails three components inclusive of the pipeline, a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility to treat and separate the gas and a power plant to generate 300 megawatts of electricity. Exxon’s pipeline so far is expected to cost around US$1 billion, while Government anticipates the other two aspects would cost an additional US$759 million.

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• cost, gas, GTE, Parliament, pipeline, Speaker

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