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‘20-year maintenance contract for Gas-to-Energy project will benefit PPP boys’- Patterson
A portion of the onshore pipeline on the West Coast of Demerara laid by ExxonMobil Guyana Limited
Kaieteur News – As the government of Guyana (GoG) continues to hide the agreements inked for the US$2B Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project, the former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson fears that the venture will only serve as a doorway to finance kickbacks for cronies of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).
He made this statement during a recent Alliance For Change (AFC) press conference.
Patterson in his remarks reasoned that while the project is now pegged at around US$2B, the single largest financial project ever pursued in the country’s history, the government has not yet addressed costs such as the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) expense, which he believes will be pocketed by the members of the governing party.
He reasoned, “Someone has to operate it and run it. It’s not GPL, who is the company? It’s not the company that is building it, it cannot be that company operating and running it. How are we gonna get that? So therefore there will be a company collecting the money from GPL, they will just be like a Wartsila (that) used to do (maintenance for GPL) plants- an O&M company. That company, who are the beneficial owners of that company because I mean if it’s one of the PPP cronies and you get US1 cent per megawatt for 300MW for 365 days for 20 years. If you do the maths, you can see that that that’s generational funding.”
Patterson said that this contract will be worth billions of dollars and added, “That is why they do these things so opaque and they’ll say oh it’s some company and of course the beneficial owners will not be known until the government is changed and we unravel it.”
The Opposition has been making repeated requests for the agreements inked to date by government for the project but have been unsuccessful in their efforts.
Since 2022, the government signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with the Stabroek Co-ventures that outlines the principles and conditions for the commercial and technical arrangements of the deal. Several other agreements and contracts for the project have also been signed but remain hidden.
Patterson had requested a copy of the HOA agreement in Parliament back in December 2022, but the Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat said it could not be made available yet.
Patterson in his request for the information, submitted to Parliament on October 18, 2022, had asked whether any agreements were signed with ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL)- formerly 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.
Bharrat in his response to Patterson said, “There are other agreements on supply, buyer’s agreement, field development, licensing conditions, onshore works, and land matters that are currently being drafted. The respective agreements and policy documents will be presented to this Honourable House when they have been agreed upon and executed. All agreements are being done in a timely manner to meet the Final Investment Decision which will allow for the project to be completed by our committed deadline of December 2024.”
Notably, the timeline for the delivery of the GTE project has now been shifted to 2025, and Exxon is yet to make a Final Investment Decision for the initiative.
Exxon is constructing the pipeline component of the project that will be used to transport natural gas from the Liza fields in the Stabroek Block to the Wales Development Site.
Meanwhile, the government is constructing a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility and a 300 megawatt power plant, aimed at reducing electricity charges by 50%.
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