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Over $350M spent in legal fees for Gas-to-Energy arbitration to date- GoG
Kaieteur News- The Government of Guyana (GoG) has spent over $350M to date in legal fees on the arbitration case involving the Wales Gas-to-Energy (GTE) contractor, Lindsayca/ CH4.
This information was provided to members of the Opposition on Tuesday by the Parliament Office.
In an official correspondence from Parliament, it was explained that during the consideration of the 2025 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, at the 98th Sitting of the National Assembly held on February 3, 2025, Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips committed to provide a list of advisers associated with the GTE project. These details, along with others relating to power generation, were requested by Alliance For Change (AFC) Member of Parliament (MP) David Patterson.
Table showing payments made by government to date for the Gas-to-Energy arbitration
He had also requested the amount paid to these individuals and a copy of the signed contract for the project. While the financial information was provided, the MP highlighted that the contract was not supplied to the House, as government has now indicated that they will only hand over these documents at the end of the project.
According to the information presented to Members, a whopping US$1,786,322 has been paid to date to a battery of lawyers representing Guyana’s case in the GTE arbitration.
The sum includes a payment of US$22,181 to ‘Universal Court Reporting’ for transcript services for the Dispute Avoidance and Adjudication Board (DAAB) hearings.
The document also reveals that US$3,748 was paid for travel expenses to a DAAB hearing for the local legal advisor, Ronald Burch-Smith.
Local legal advisors, Manoj Narayan and Burch-Smith, were also paid US$39,914 and US$30,410, respectively, for land acquisition matters relating to the project.
Meanwhile, the foreign advisors/ experts include Jeremy Glover, Sean Gibbs, Andrew Ness, Neil Hart, Dalton Hale, Mohammad Yadollahi, Yendall Hunter Ltd. and Mark Grasso along with Universal Court Reporting.
The foreign experts were paid a total of US$1,516,246, while the local legal advisors have been paid the sum of US$270,076 to date since 2023.
GTE arbitration
On 31 January 2025, the DAAB issued their ruling on the GTE matter, which government said is bound by confidentiality.
The government did not specify the details of the decision made by the DAAB, following a complaint filed on September 19, 2024.
It was reported that the GTE contractor, Lindsayca/CH4, has submitted two claims to the DAAB. The first claim amounts to US$50M, reportedly related to cost overruns. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had blamed ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) for the construction delays in the Wales gas plants. Jagdeo said that ExxonMobil was responsible for the site preparation, the road, the Materials Offloading Facility (MOF), and the lay-down yard.
“We were supposed to hand over the site to the contractor by June, we did not hand over the site, that is, Exxon did not hand over the site until September, and it was still incomplete…so a three-month delay,” he said. Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI) was contracted by ExxonMobil to complete the site.
Jagdeo further stated that the government decided to give the contractors an extension of three months (from the end of 2024), “that is why we are arguing that the plant must be completed by April of 2025, instead of end December 2024.”
The former Head of State said the GoG is at odds with the contractor over the delay period.
He explained, “That is where the three months we are arguing, the three-month delay on the project came. They want a longer period because the liquidating damages for not completing the project on time for the contractor, if they don’t complete the project on time, it’s over US$11M per month they have to pay in liquidating damages for delay on the project, so they are arguing they need more time beyond the three months. We are saying three months is adequate.”
Meanwhile, it was reported that the second claim made by the contractor relates to issues relating to the soil. Jagdeo said, “There have been some additional claims by CH4 and Lindsayca, particularly as they relate to the soil conditions, and those would have to go through the technical process to see whether they are justified or not.”
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- arbitration, gas, GTE, legal, Parliament
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