Latest update May 25th, 2026 12:35 AM
Govt. still pursuing Suriname partnership for second Berbice gas project – Pres. Ali
(Kaieteur News) – Guyana’s Government is still in discussion with neighbouring Suriname to secure the Dutch-speaking nation’s partnership for Guyana’s planned second gas-to-energy (GTE) project which will be located in Berbice, Region Six.
At his press conference on Friday, President Irfaan Ali outlined the importance of the conversations with Suriname to create the massive gas project. “The conversation with Suriname is important to see how they will treat their gas. We’re working towards having our pipeline to see whether they will feed into our pipeline. If that happens, of course, the project goes up to a higher scale with massive additional opportunities,” Ali said.
President Irfaan Ali
Despite the first GTE project at Wales West Bank Demerara is still to be completed, after missing several deadlines, the Ali-administration had earlier signaled their intention to have a second GTE project before the end of the decade.
“We’re in the process of GTE Two, because you know we are already projecting that the power that will be needed from what is happening in the economy will definitely consume all of GTE One in its initial phase. So, we are already on that, the GTE Two project,” President Ali said.
Back in February, President Ali at the opening of the Energy Conference made the call to collaborate with Suriname on the second GTE project. The Guyanese head-of-state had told attendees that discussions were underway for a joint initiative that could see gas from both countries being used for a larger-scale project in the ancient county.
Recently, ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) president, Alistair Routledge announced that the second pipeline for the GTE project in Berbice should land before President Ali completes his second term in 2030. Since December 2024 EMGL completed the pipeline for the Wales GTE project; however, to date, the project is yet to be completed. The government is now eyeing the completion of the project by the end of this year.
The GTE project entails utilising natural gas from the Stabroek Block located offshore Guyana to power a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility and a 300-megawatt (MW) power plant which is expected to cut consumers’ electricity bills by 50 per cent.
Moreover, government had explained that GTE Two will play a crucial role as part of its plan to turn Berbice into a development zone. At his press conference, President Ali cited previous interest for data centres, urea plants, and petrochemical facilities in Berbice.
“What I can say to you though, is the interest, especially from the US (United States) has been incredible in terms of some of the onshore build out that can come based on that gas… So definitely in Berbice, we will have the development of that zone, that exclusive development zone,” the president noted.
He also briefly shared that there has been interest expressed from different funding agencies in relation to the deepwater port which will also be located in Berbice. Like GTE Two, the deepwater port in Berbice is a critical component of turning Berbice into a development zone.
“So, we’re not going to explore that here, but definitely in the months ahead, you will definitely have full understanding of what this development would look like. But now two things: monetising as quickly as possible and also building out the onshore opportunities and facility,” President Ali noted.
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