Dear Editor,
The planned gas to shore project will perhaps play the biggest role in helping the Guyana Power and Light to significantly reduce its import bill for heavy oil which is being used now for the generation of electricity. Just last week the power company said the hike in oil prices, due to the Russia-Ukraine war, was putting severe pressures on its budget.
GPL said its landed cost for fuel is approximately US$140 per barrel, and has quadrupled from 2016 when the fuel price was approximately US$30 per barrel. GPL currently utilizes approximately 3,700 barrels of fuel daily for electricity generation to meet the daily demand, at the cost of around GY$111.5 million. It said its monthly operating expenses have now moved to approximately GY$4.5 billion against monthly electricity sales of approximately GY$3 billion, making its operations unsustainable.
With the pipeline and gas processing facilities at Wales, this will remove GPL’s dependence on heavy oil while reducing by 50% or more the cost of electricity to Guyanese. But the benefits go beyond a cheaper light bill. Gas is cleaner than heavy oil. Using this cleaner fuel to generate power will reduce Guyana’s carbon footprint and put the country on the right path towards renewables. If there was ever a light at the end of the tunnel to our blackout and high light bill issues in Guyana, the gas to shore project is it.
Sincerely,
Romel Khan
