Gas plant contractor draining US$70,000 from Guyana weekly on luxury flights

Apr 07, 2026 News

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..seeking additional US$250M to complete project 

By: Davina Bagot

(Kaieteur News) – While Guyanese citizens endure back-to-back blackouts and the government scrambles to rent emergency generators, executives of Lindsayca- the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) contractor- travels in luxury, flying weekly out of Georgetown on a private jet, costing Guyana US$70,000.

The financial extravagance was recently brought to the attention of Kaieteur News, by an unnamed source, who provided proof of the luxury travel for Lindsayca executives. Perhaps more disrespectful to Guyana, is the fact that the contractor is not only misusing project funds to fly its top executives, but also source materials for the project at much higher freight costs.

Sources confirmed, “Since October 2022, top executives have utilized private jets to fly on a weekly basis from Houston, Texas, refueling in Puerto Rico, before touching down in Georgetown. A conservative calculation of this weekly commute exposes a staggering drain on project resources.”

By breaking down the flight routes, the true scale of this extravagance becomes clear. See table for flight cost formula.

To put this gross misuse of funds into perspective: the President of Guyana routinely flies commercial airlines around the world to conduct the nation’s business and attend international summits. Yet, foreign contractors hired to deliver affordable energy to a developing nation are treating its sovereign wealth like a limitless expense account for private luxury. It is a severe insult to the Guyanese taxpayer—millions of dollars evaporating into the atmosphere while the people on the ground remain in the dark.

The Cargo Jet Absurdity

The financial bleeding does not stop at executive joyrides. Official customs declarations and flight manifests recently obtained by this publication expose a logistical practice so grossly wasteful it defies basic engineering economics.

Records show that Lindsayca is actively utilizing these same private luxury jets to import boxes of construction parts and equipment for the GTE project. Rather than utilizing standard, cost-effective commercial air freight or maritime shipping routes—as is standard industry practice for billion-dollar infrastructure builds—the consortium is flying industrial components into the Ogle Airport via private charter.

A source said, “This practice is the definition of gross mismanagement. Ferrying metal parts and construction materials in the cabin of a high-end jet astronomically inflates the freight cost, passing the ultimate burden of this logistical incompetence onto the Guyanese project budget.”

Bleeding Guyana Dry: Ballooning project cost with a Task Force Cover-Up

This blatant disregard for project funds is part of a broader, systemic pattern of financial extortion. The original US$759 million price tag was supposed to be a firm commitment. Instead, Lindsayca-CH4 has weaponized its own delays to extract more capital.

Beyond the initial project cost Kaieteur News was told that ExxonMobil- the pipeline contractor- paid Lindsayca an additional US$50M to complete the GTE site.

Furthermore, the consortium dragged the Government of Guyana before a Dispute Adjudication Board over site handover disputes and minor projects surrounding the GTE. Despite failing to deliver the power plant on time, the consortium won the dispute, walking away with an additional US$82 million awarded in liquidated damages due to government delays—a massive windfall strictly to the benefit of Lindsayca.

Yet, even after these massive cash injections, the consortium’s coffers are supposedly empty again. They are now actively negotiating a staggering US$250 million in additional funds to finish the job, which they were contracted to do.

More interesting is the oversight mechanisms meant to protect Guyana are failing—or worse, actively colluding. Sources indicate that in February of this year, a closed-door progress and schedule audit took place at ExxonMobil headquarters at Ogle. During this highly sensitive meeting, members of Guyana’s Gas-to-Energy Task Force presented an alarming proposal to ExxonMobil executives: allowing Lindsayca to finish the project on an “open-book, cost-plus basis.”

A cost-plus contract effectively removes all financial risk from the contractor, guaranteeing them a profit margin on top of whatever exorbitant expenses they incur—including, presumably, their private jets. During the meeting, the Task Force reportedly argued that while the US250 million demanded by the contractor, that they believed a figure of 170 million “should do the job.”

This proposition deeply alarmed several individuals in the closed room.

The source argued, “Why is the body entrusted with safeguarding Guyana’s energy future volunteering to write a blank check? The public deserves to know: Why is the Gas-to-Energy Task Force continually running interference and covering up for Lindsayca’s gross incompetence? And why are they so adamant about rewarding a failing, financially opaque consortium with extra time, reduced risk, and hundreds of millions in additional taxpayer money?”

The Silence at the Top: A Government Cover-Up?

The most damning aspect of this scandal may not be the extravagance itself, but the silence surrounding it. Sources speaking exclusively to this outlet confirm that the highest levels of the Guyanese government are fully aware of Lindsayca-CH4’s continuous private jet use at both the Eugene F. Correia International Airport (Ogle) and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).

Dossiers containing detailed flight manifests, timestamped photographs of the aircraft, and copies of executive passports have been provided to us by unnamed sources deeply familiar with on-the-ground airport authorities. This indisputable evidence proves that the administration knows exactly how project funds are being burned.

This begs the ultimate question: If the government has the manifests and knows millions are being wasted on private jets and chartered cargo, why have they not made this gross misuse of taxpayer funds public? Who are they protecting, and at what cost to the Guyanese people?

The Flight of the Cabal of Guyana Power Brokers

The cozy relationship between the contractors and the decision-makers extends far beyond closed-door boardroom meetings. The most chilling evidence of this deep-seated collusion was captured on a flight manifest dated February 21, 2026—just after the conclusion of the Guyana Energy Expo.

According to documents provided by sources, a Lindsayca private jet—a Hawker registered as N17TV—departed from Ogle Airport (SYCJ) bound for Opa Locka, Miami (KOPF). Aboard this single luxury flight was a veritable cabal of energy power brokers:

• Jesus Bronchalo Romero: The CEO of Fulcrum LNG. Until his recent “retirement,” Bronchalo was the Commercial Vice President of ExxonMobil Guyana, reporting directly to President Alistair Routledge and the Houston Board. Almost immediately after leaving Exxon, Bronchalo incorporated Fulcrum LNG in the US as a virtual “one-man show,” which the Guyanese government controversially hired to develop the national Gas Plans for Berbice.
• Hector Fuentes: The Venezuelan CEO and owner of Lindsayca, the very company currently bleeding the Wales Gas-to-Energy project dry.
• Nelson Drake: The Chairman of the GTE project since its inception, and the man who has repeatedly promised the delivery of GTE Phase I.
• Joaquin Vazquez Higuera: Program Director from KBR. His presence is no coincidence—KBR is currently bidding alongside Lindsayca for the lucrative Guyana Ammonia and Urea Plant (GAUP) slated for Wales.

What ties this high-flying group together? Fulcrum LNG (Berbice Gas), Lindsayca (GTE Wales), and KBR (GAUP Wales) are all executing or bidding on the nation’s most critical infrastructure projects. And all of them answer directly to the Gas-to-Energy Task Force, led by consultant Winston Brassington under the Ministry of Natural Resources.

This singular flight exposes a terrifying reality: the supposedly independent bids and separate energy projects shaping Guyana’s future are being coordinated by a tight-knit circle sharing the same cabin. How big will this cabal get, and will the Gas-to-Energy Task Force effectively hand over the sovereign wealth and energy independence of an entire nation to a handful of men operating out of a private jet?

The Revolving Door: Will the Cabal Inherit Phase II?

As these damning revelations come to light—the millions burned on private jets, the logistical absurdity of chartered cargo, the astronomical cost overruns, and the secret boardroom negotiations—one glaring question remains. Will the Gas-to-Energy Task Force and the leaders in government actually consider allowing Lindsayca to participate in, let alone win, Phase II of the Gas-to-Energy project (GTE II)?

Public records already show that Lindsayca submitted a bid to design, construct, and operate the second phase of the project, aiming to secure another massive payout. Given the sheer scale of the ongoing financial hemorrhage and the deeply entrenched cabal operating out of shared luxury cabins, the public must demand answers. Is there a revolving door between these foreign contractors and the very government officials meant to regulate them?

Rewarding this consortium with yet another multi-million-dollar contract after such gross mismanagement and delays would not just be a failure of oversight; it would be a clear signal that the system is entirely compromised, handing over the nation’s energy sovereignty to the highest flyers.

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• contractor, gas plant, gas-to-energy, LINDSAYCA, luxury flights

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