Turkish power company holds Guyana at ransom for more $$$ as contract expires

May 31, 2026 News

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(Kaieteur News) – The Government of Guyana (GoG) is currently being held at ransom by the Turkish powership company – Karpowership – which is reportedly demanding higher rates in order to keep the lights on in Guyana, while State officials scramble behind closed doors, begging for extra time to negotiate.

A damning joint letter dated May 25, 2026, exclusively seen by this publication, exposes the chilling reality of Guyana’s energy crisis. The document sent by Karadeniz Powership Yasin Bey Company Limited and Urbacon Concessions Investments to Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, reveals that the government is currently being strong-armed into a rapid, secret contract renewal under the threat of immediate disconnection at the New Amsterdam location.

The country rented two vessels from Karpowership – a 36-megwatts (MW) facility is docked in the Berbice River, while the 60MW craft is stationed in the Demerara River.

According to the letter, the initial “Powership Time Charter Plus Agreement” officially expired on May 21, 2026. Recognising the crisis they are in, the Ministry desperately wrote to the company on May 22, begging for an additional 30-day extension to hash out a new contract.

The powership operators however flatly rejected the government’s plea, informing that it could not facilitate such a lengthy extension, granting instead a limited one-week window which closes on Monday, June 1, 2026.

Signed by Beyza Özdemir, Americas Director of Commercial Operations, and Antonio Neto, Managing Director of Urbacon, the letter explained, “We are unfortunately unable to accommodate a further thirty (30) days extension.”

The executives explained that they have already continued to provide services beyond the expiration date of the contract and urged that the negotiations and approval process be expedited to allow the continuation of service beyond June 1, 2026.

The operators demanded that the government moves swiftly, stating that “alignment and unification of the commercial terms and pricing structure across all country operations remain essential requirements for the continuation of the arrangement.”

In other words, Guyana is being forced to accept the new pricing arrangement, which is likely exorbitant, by June 1, or the lights go out as the executives ominously concluded that they trust the matter will be settled “to avoid any interruption to operations.”

The situation leaves Guyana, a sovereign nation, being bullied by a barge operator with just days’ notice, the result of the catastrophic handling of the much-touted Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project.

The emergency power rental, already bleeding taxpayers billions in unscrutinised payments was only necessary because Phase One of the GTE project failed to deliver on its promises – cheaper electricity by the end of 2024. The project is now instead “on track for delivery” by the end of 2026 according to government.

The two-year delay falls squarely at the feet of GTE Task Force head Winston Brassington and the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor, CH4-Lindsayca.

Despite the billions of taxpayers’ dollars pumped into the Wales development, Lindsayca Inc. has dragged its feet, missing critical deadlines and leaving the national grid starved of the promised baseload power.

Because Lindsayca could not finish the job on time, and because Brassington’s task force failed to manage the timeline, the government was forced into a desperate panic and turned to Karpowership to rent emergency power, throwing away money on temporary barges instead of securing long-term assets for the country.

The government is now being held at ransom by Karpowership which knows that the GoG has no backup plan; as a result of the GTE delays, the foreign company has the ultimate leverage. They can dictate their terms, demand their pricing to their maximum benefit, and deny standard 30-day extensions, taking advantage of the fact that the Ministry of Public Works has its hands tied behind its back.

The power crisis however exposes a deeper troubling reality, a nation that is fed only with convenient information by its government that controls billions of oil revenue. The nation was only made aware that their energy sector is days away from a contract cliff after this newspaper accessed leaked documents.

The government remains tight-lipped on exactly how many millions of US dollars this “unification of commercial terms” will cost the public purse. On Saturday, Minister Deodat Indar did not respond to a request for a comment on the power deal involving Karpowership.

Every extra dollar squeezed out of Guyana by the energy company is a dollar wasted—and reflects the incompetence of those tasked to manage the project, the failures of Lindsayca Inc., and the questionable legal maneuvering surrounding the entire Gas-to-Energy fiasco.

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• Guyana’s energy crisis, Karpowership, Ransom, Turkish powership company

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