ExxonMobil proposes new pipeline to transport gas to Berbice

Feb 20, 2025 News

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…new fertilizer and alumina plants to be constructed

By: Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News-To support the Government of Guyana’s (GoG’s) gas utilisation and monetisation plan, its energy partner, ExxonMobil on Wednesday unveiled a draft plan which includes the construction of a new pipeline to transport the resources to shore.

The draft plan was revealed by President of ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), Alistair Routledge during this year’s Guyana Energy Conference, hosted at the Marriott Hotel, Georgetown. It includes a fertilizer plant, alumina plant and a Data Center in Berbice.

According to the proposed development seen by this newspaper, the gas will be supplied to the onshore facility from a Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) operating in the Southeast of the Stabroek Block. The gas will be fed to an offshore gas processing and LNG export facility, which appears to be located in a shallower portion of Guyana’s waters.

In his remarks, Routledge explained that over the last few years, the company has been working on three main elements to progress its understanding and to try to materialize a plan for gas development.

The proposed gas plan, according to Exxon will see the utilization of more than 120 million cubic feet of gas per day at the facility.

He said, “Given the fluids that exist there we will almost certainly require a deepwater FPSO for the upstream development but that has been part of the first element of studies that have been ongoing- is what are the concepts for developments of the deepwater resource. Underpinning that has been all of the exploration and appraisal, that very foundational element and around understanding the resource…”

Beyond appraising and exploring, he pointed to the need for a market which he stated Guyana does not currently have.

To this end, Routledge said, “I talked earlier on about Guyana does not today have a market. We started that with the Wales development but there are a lot of other opportunities, that could be onshore, and particularly the most likely origin or location will be in the Berbice Region that we’ve heard earlier Anand (Jagesar) himself mentioned bauxite development- alumina production is a good use of gas.”

While this is one component being explored by the developer, it is also assessing the potential of harnessing the resources to support Data Centers.

Routledge told delegates of the conference, “The President himself, President Ali yesterday mentioned Data Centers. We’ve had conversations with some potential investors. We’ve all heard in other parts of the world, the huge demand for energy to support the AI growth and build out in the world as we go through another evolution of digital, to support society’s development. Well why not use gas in Guyana as part of distributed data centers in AI around the world?”

Additionally, the oil giant highlighted the existing potential for investment in a fertilizer plant. He explained, “While its potential that in the Wales development there could be a fertilizer plant that could supply the fertilizer needs of Guyana, Northern Brazil, CARICOM, within this region there are significantly higher needs for fertilizer and so we foresee the potential for development of additional fertilizer (facilities) in the country.”

Finally, the Exxon boss said that while laying a pipeline to transport gas to Trinidad and Tobago may not be feasible there are other options being investigated. “There is still the possibility of using Liquefied Natural Gas technology to connect us to global markets and so that is a further option that is on the table and being investigated,” he outlined.

As ExxonMobil works with the Guyana government to solidify this plan, Routledge noted that there are key considerations being looked at.

These include the option that delivers the most value to the country in the long term from the development of the resources. Another key element to the discussions is the potential timeline to bring these facilities on stream.

According to him, “We’ve been starting these discussions…the government has been working strategies, we have been working strategies trying to bring players together so that we can start to understand what is your investment timeline, when might you develop a bauxite facility, when might you develop a data center. All of that is critical to understanding volume off-take, timing, price so that we can pull all of those together into a development concept and roadmap that will enable a significant investment both offshore where we’ve been making the investments but also in shallow water and onshore.”

Presently, the GoG is working to complete phase one of its first gas project, which seeks to bring gas to shore from the Liza One and Liza projects in the Stabroek Block, to the Wales Development site. The gas is expected to be used to produce 300 megawatts of electricity and other by-products, such as cooking gas to drive further earnings for the country.

Meanwhile, Phase Two of the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project is also likely to come on stream in the future where private developers will construct another power plant and Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) facility, using gas from the existing 225-kilometers pipeline, built by EMGL. Phase Two is currently in the procurement stage.

(ExxonMobil proposes new pipeline to transport gas to Berbice)

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• alumina, Berbice, fertilizer, gas, GTE, pipeline, Routledge

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