Latest update September 3rd, 2026 10:25 AM
Competing interests
(Kaieteur News) – The Chinese Embassy has hit back at a United States State Department official who criticised Chinese projects in Guyana and elsewhere in the Caribbean and Latin America.
The response from Beijing is blunt, but there is an uncomfortable truth buried in it: the United States government ought to be very careful about lecturing Guyana on the quality, integrity or wisdom of its development partnerships.
This newspaper holds no brief for China. Chinese companies, like American, European, Indian or any other foreign companies, must be judged by the quality of their work, the value delivered to Guyanese taxpayers and the terms under which they operate. But if Washington wants to point fingers at questionable projects in Guyana, it should first examine some of the projects involving American interests and the Guyanese Government.
The Wales Gas-to-Energy project provides a particularly embarrassing example. The project was sold to Guyanese as a transformative initiative that would deliver cheaper and more reliable electricity. Instead, it has become a monument to delay, escalating costs, disputes and unanswered questions.
Lindsayca/CH4 was awarded a US$759 million contract to construct the 300-megawatt power plant and Natural Gas Liquids facility. Yet Kaieteur News investigations have raised serious questions about the contractor’s financial condition and experience when it was awarded the contract. The company was reportedly struggling financially and faced lawsuits, while questions were also raised about whether it possessed the experience required for a project of such magnitude.
Then came the disputes. A US$50 million cost-overrun claim went to the dispute process. Government subsequently agreed to an additional US$97 million for soil stabilisation—despite documents examined by this newspaper indicating that the contractor’s original proposal had already priced soil stabilisation and related works at more than US$100 million.
The project’s original US$759 million price tag has now ballooned to approximately US$884 million and counting while the promised 300 megawatts remains undelivered. Government is still considering whether to penalise the contractor for the delays. And there is more.
The American connection was heavily promoted when the contract was being pursued, including reliance on US financing. Yet subsequent reporting raised questions about the corporate structure behind the project, including the use of foreign entities and shell companies. Kaieteur News also reported that three cheaper Chinese bids had been rejected in favour of Lindsayca/CH4.
So, when a US official points to Chinese projects and declares that Guyana has suffered from foreign-led projects, Guyanese are entitled to ask: what exactly gives Washington the moral authority to lecture Georgetown?
And if Washington is genuinely concerned about Guyana’s interests, perhaps it should also examine the country’s most consequential foreign commercial relationship—the 2016 ExxonMobil Production Sharing Agreement. That agreement remains perhaps the gravest economic injustice perpetrated against the Guyanese people.
It gives Guyana a mere two percent royalty, allows up to 75 percent of production to be recovered as costs, provides for a 50/50 split only after cost recovery, contains no effective ring-fencing provision and provides extraordinary tax advantages to the oil companies. In practical terms, Guyana’s profit share has been only 12.5 percent before the royalty, while Exxon and its partners recover their costs.
This is not some Chinese creation. It is a deal with an American oil giant. The contrast is glaring. Guyana must have the sovereignty to decide whether it wants to work with China, the United States, India, Europe or anyone else. The issue should not be which flag flies over the company. The issue should be whether Guyana gets value for money, whether contracts are transparent, whether taxpayers are protected and whether foreign companies are held accountable. China should not receive a free pass. Neither should America. But neither should Washington pretend that Guyana’s interests are protected merely because a project carries an American connection. Before lecturing Guyana about China, America should look closely at Wales and perhaps even closer at the Stabroek Block. Guyana needs partners, not geopolitical guardians.
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