Dear Editor,
At last Dr Jagdeo is providing some figures for the public on the gas-to-shore project. He has reduced the uncertainty from 100% (US$400M-800M) to 11% (810M – 900M). From the limited information, based on what he claims has already been negotiated, the following can be deduced without consideration of interest payments, which can be calculated by finance specialists.
1. At 7 US cents per kWhe for 250 MW electricity generation the US$900M investment can be paid back within 6 years of a turn-key delivery.
2. Dr Jagdeo has to be clear whether the price he is quoting is for thermal kWht, or for electrical kWhe. There could be a factor of 2.2 that depends on the efficiency of the conversion.
3. The 50 million cubic ft per day request is consistent with the desired 250 MW of electricity.
I only meant to examine the consistency of the new revelations, not whether they can be realized at those prices. A proper feasibility study still has to be done.
And what is keeping the government from publishing the study by the previous government, on the website of the Ministry of Natural Resources naturally, for all Guyanese taxpayers who funded it to see?
Yours sincerely,
Alfred Bhulai
