Latest update January 20th, 2025 4:00 AM
Gas Utilization Strategy now with Government – Jagdeo
Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana (GoG) has received the draft Gas Utilization Strategy, prepared by oil giant ExxonMobil.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo
This was revealed by Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo during a press conference on Thursday. He told reporters that the document is expected to be publicized later this week for feedback from the public.
He said, “We have also received the draft Gas Utilization Strategy and hopefully by next week, it will be out in the public for consultation. This is something I promised, I said once we get through the first wave of reforms, we will go on to the Gas Utilization Strategy and then on enhanced monitoring.”
Meanwhile, the policy maker informed that with its continental neighbour Suriname making preparation to commence oil production in the future, he believes there is a possibility of the two countries working together to harness the gas reserves in the region. “We believe that if there is an oil industry in Suriname and it has extra gas, there are possibilities of working together, maybe some common infrastructure, but we are still, they are still a long way off from actually producing oil,” the VP pointed out.
Jagdeo had previously related that the GoG is working on its own Gas Strategy Plan that is slated to be completed at the end of this year. During a March 3, 2023 press engagement at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, the former Head of State explained that India will be assisting Guyana in developing the document that guides the state in monetizing the resource.
Last year, it was reported that Guyana’s gas reserve totals about 16 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). The vast resources prompted government to pursue the gas utilization strategy with ExxonMobil, the operator the Stabroek Block.
In May last year, in a Kaieteur News report, Jagdeo said, “We are working on a draft master plan for the country and a lot hinges on getting Exxon to make more gas available to monetize more of its 16 trillion cubic feet of reserve. So that is the first objective of the government.”
The economist and former Head of State continued, “…Now as you know, Exxon now re-injects most of this gas back into the reservoir and they are saying it is important for reservoir quality and for them to do that in all the developments then we don’t have much gas to utilize so we are working with them to get some studies done to see how we can liberate more of the gas.”
The Vice President indicated that the government is of the firm conviction that the gas resource can be as lucrative as the oil component of Exxon’s operations. He stressed however that a lot hinges on the availability of the gas and not being carried away by the size of the reserve.”
He had made it clear that if Exxon refuses to utilize the resources discovered, they may have to relinquish the area.
“Exxon has argued in the beginning that they need all of the associated gas pumped back into the wells to keep the quality of the wells up. We have a different view on this matter…so that is why the gas utilization plan has to be done and we are working on our gas strategy and the discussions have to take place on how we monetize the gas…we made it clear, if they are not going to utilize it, they have to relinquish it, and we may find other people who are prepared to utilize the gas and I’m saying this openly.”
Currently, Guyana is pursuing the use of natural gas in the Liza One and Liza Two fields, offshore for the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project. This will see about 50 million standard cubic feet of gas per day being piped to shore. It is intended to generate some 300 megawatts of electricity for the national grid and produce other products such as cooking gas for sale. This is part of the administration’s plan to be energy-sufficient.
Though experts question the logics behind the close to US$2B venture, government is adamant about the project’s viability.
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