Even as the government awaits the US$650 million sought from the United States Export-Import (EXIM) Bank for the Gas to Energy (GtE) project and has to date state-financed about $400 million in lieu of that approval, it is prepared to fund the additional if not approved, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said.
“We have, on this project which is slated to complete next year [and had a price tag of] US$761 million for the LGN facility and also the power plant… From our own resources so far, because of the delay in the loan… [we] have paid about US$400 million, more than half of the project…,” Jagdeo told a press conference as he updated on the project.
“The aim was to borrow about $650 million from EXIM Bank. We had $100 million in the first year as the advance payment… That’s even better for us. The loan from EXIM Bank, we can get reimbursed for it because of the way it is structured. Just to tell you that we will get this done, even if it means carrying it from our own budget,” he added.
Jagdeo posited that the country should be “happy” even if the loan isn’t approved because it was showing that it could fund the project on its own and without any borrowing.
However, Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh, according to Jagdeo, is scheduled to soon meet with the US EXIM Bank executives to advance the request further.
When it took office in 2020, the PPP/C promised to deliver the GtE project by 2024 and said it would not only lower consumer tariffs by some 50 per cent, but also replace the current heavy fuel oils that this country currently uses, with cleaner fuel.
Currently, Guyana Power and Light provides electricity at a rate of 15 US cents per kilowatt/hour.
The GtE project is divided into three components – 1) Pipeline, 2) Power/NGL (natural gas liquids) Plant, and 3) Transmission Line/Substations.
The pipeline component includes a 250-kilometre, 12-inch pipeline from two Floating Production, Storage and Offloading platforms (FPSOs), to deliver some 50 MCF/D (1,000 cubic feet per day) of gas to shore, although the pipeline has the capacity for 120-plus MCF/D.
The power/NGL component is the 300 MW Combined Cycle and NGL Plant, while the third component will have 85 kilometres of 69 KV and 230 KV transmission lines, 3 new substations, and upgrades to two other sub-stations.
ExxonMobil has stated that the laying of the pipelines will be completed by the end of this year and the pipes will be filled with nitrogen until the government’s completion of the integrated plant.
