Gas-to-energy or cash to ashes? Guyana’s most expensive gamble

Mar 09, 2026 Letters

Dear Editor,

Former President Bharat Jagdeo’s track record with mega projects reads like a case study in how not to manage public investments. The Skeldon Sugar Factory and the Amaila Falls Hydro Project already stand as towering reminders of hubris over prudence—projects plagued by half-baked studies, astronomical overruns, and enduring losses. Today, as he dons the mantle of “Chief Oil Director,” Jagdeo is once again steering Guyana into what could become another financial catastrophe—the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project.

The administration has marketed this enterprise as the nation’s energy breakthrough, promising cheaper electricity and prosperity to follow. But a closer look reveals soaring costs, engineering blunders, and troubling secrecy that together echo the poorest traditions of project mismanagement under Jagdeo’s watch.

The Billion-Dollar Balloon

When first conceived in 2018, the Gas-to-Energy project was estimated at US$478 million. Fast forward to 2026, and the figure has bloated to over US$2 billion, with some experts warning final costs could touch US$3 billion after accounting for delays, grid upgrades, and contractor disputes.

The breakdown tells its own story: US$1 billion for ExxonMobil’s 250-kilometre pipeline; US$759 million for the power plant and Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility at Wales; and another US$160 million for transmission lines, substations, and land acquisition. What began as a pathway to lower light bills has turned into a monument of cost inflation.

A Foundation Sinking in Mud

The decision to locate the project at Wales might be the most reckless stroke of all. Engineers have confirmed that the land was soft, soggy, and unfit for such heavy industrial construction. The result? Fourteen months and over US$100 million just to stabilise the soil—an avoidable expense had a credible feasibility study been done.

Even now, the gas pipeline completed by Exxon in 2024 lies idle, filled with nitrogen to prevent rusting while the power plant lags behind schedule. That idleness comes at a price: Guyana continues to burn costly heavy fuel for electricity, draining an additional US$232 million from the treasury.

Clouds of Controversy

Layered atop the technical fiascos is a web of questionable deals. A US$50,000 monthly consultancy fee to a Dominican Republic firm with reported ties to high-ranking officials has stirred alarm among analysts. The main contractor, Lindsayca, is now embroiled in a multi-million-dollar legal war with the government over overruns and delay claims reportedly approaching US$100 million.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—the very body meant to safeguard national interests—has fallen into the spotlight for procedural breaches. When environmental activists Vanda Radzik and Elizabeth Deane-Hughes challenged the EPA’s illegal granting of a key permit to ExxonMobil, High Court Judge Priya Sewnarine-Beharry agreed that the agency acted “contrary to law and improper.” Yet, she stopped short of quashing the permit, citing the billions already sunk into the project—a quiet admission that Guyana’s Gas-to-Energy scheme is now too big to fail, no matter how fatally flawed.

Who Really Pays?

The government has promised that electricity bills will fall by 50%, but that arithmetic seems less convincing by the day. Hidden within the oil accounts, audits have revealed that Exxon has been deducting pipeline costs from Guyana’s oil revenues since 2018—long before gas will ever flow. As debt mounts and timelines crumble, the dream of affordable energy risks becoming another illusion sold to weary citizens.

Earlier studies identified East Coast sites with stronger soil and lower risk. Yet, political calculations appeared to outweigh technical wisdom. The result: a project anchored more in partisan interest than in sound economics or environmental logic.

A Familiar Tragedy

The Gas-to-Energy project was meant to light up Guyana. Instead, it’s burning through billions, dimming faith in governance and accountability. The pattern is achingly familiar—an elite few gamble with national wealth while citizens are left to shoulder the debt.

If history is a teacher, then Guyana is once again sitting for a painful lesson. This time, however, the scale of the disaster could eclipse even Skeldon. Unless transparency, engineering integrity, and fiscal discipline intervene immediately, the country risks turning its most promising energy venture into another chapter in the long, expensive saga of Jagdeo’s unfinished follies.

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