Latest update November 15th, 2024 1:00 AM
Govt. sidesteps question on Exxon’s expenditure for Gas-to-Energy project in Parliament
…US30M approved for transmission works
Kaieteur News – The National Assembly on Wednesday approved over $5 billion for transmission and distribution works associated with the highly touted Gas-to-Energy (GTE) Project as government dodged question with regard to the total sum expended by oil giant ExxonMobil to develop the initiative.
This year, $43.3 billion was approved in the national Budget to support the project.
It was former Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence who zeroed in on the expenses incurred by the company, during the 67th Sitting of the National Assembly as the House resolved into the Committee of Supply to consider Financial Paper Number Three, in which the government requested an additional $61 billion to support its additional work programme.
Responding to questions on the specific line item was Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh. He was acting on behalf of Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips who is currently out of country.
Notably, the Finance Minister did not respond to the Opposition Member of Parliament’s (MPs) specific concern, but instead addressed spending by government on the project.
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh makes a point during the National Assembly yesterday
He said, “In relation to the construction of the power plant and associated investment including the T&D (transmission and distribution), those investments are being financed by the government of Guyana out of the budgetary appropriations that the Budget has approved and now these supplementary appropriations being sought.”
Former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson followed up on the response and asked the Minister to disaggregate the sum that has been expended on the activities so far, but Dr. Singh committed to providing the information to the Assembly at a later date.
It must be noted that the GTE project features three components including the pipeline being developed by Exxon along with the Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility and 300-megawatt power plant being pursued by the Government of Guyana (GoG).
Exxon will be funding the 12-inch pipeline that will transport the natural gas to the Wales Development site, West Bank Demerara (WBD). In the meantime, government has pursued the United States Export Import (US-EXIM) Bank for a GY$134 billion (US$646 million) loan to finance the other two components. There has been no indication so far that the application was approved by the financial institution.
The question from the Opposition on the sum expended by Exxon on the project comes on the heels of a report by Kaieteur News that while the oil company told the High Court it spent US$206 million, it only gave account for US$50 million in a subsequent submission. See link below https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2023/08/09/exxon-tells-court-it-spent-us206m-but-only-accounts-for-us50m/
$5B more approved
The National Assembly approved an additional $5 billion yesterday to finance the transmission and distribution lines for the project.
According to the Finance Minister, “This line item finances a number of interventions associated with the Gas-to-Energy or Gas to Power project including the EPC contract, this is the contract for Engineering and Procurement and Construction of the power plant itself; project management and supervision expenses; components in relation to upgrading the transmission and distribution network in order to adequately and efficiently off take the power that would be generated by this project and associated interventions.”
Dr. Singh said the supplementary funds were required as works have been advancing on these aspects.
He said, “What this amount represents sir, is given the updated projections of how each of these contracts will advance- the EPC contract; the construction of the power plant for which an international company has been contracted and they have already started preliminary work…this represents now the latest estimate of what we will require for the totality of the project.”
The Minister also clarified that the sum does not include costs to compensate land owners for the acquisition process presently ongoing to facilitate the transmission lines.
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