Alliance for Change member and Opposition Member of Parliament, Mr. David Patterson, said in less than two years, without any public disclosure of the reasons, all the Government’s projections to justify the Wales Gas to Shore project have been proven incorrect.
Patterson, in a statement, noted that in spite of the deficiencies the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government is forging ahead with the project, regardless of the implications for the country.
He has outlined below a comparison of the Government’s position as presented by the Guyana Power and Gas Inc. (GPGI) and how it has changed in two years:
| APRIL 2021* | MARCH 2023** |
| Projected Project Cost – US$900M | Projected Project Cost – US$2.2B. An increase of 145%. |
| Pipeline (Offshore/Onshore/Risers) – US$650M – US$730M | Pipeline (Offshore/Onshore/Risers) – US$1.2B – US$1.3B. An increase of 85%. |
| NGL/Gas Plant – US$120M | NGL/Gas Plant – US$759M. An increase of 533% |
| GPL Project Energy Demand (2026) – 3,000 GWH | GPL Project Energy Demand (2026) – 2,068 GWH, A reduction of 45%. |
| Power Plant – Wartsila engines as recommended by IDB study undertaken by K&M | Power Plant – Siemens Energy combined cycle units. |
| Power Plant annual operations and maintenance costs – US$2.5 cents per Kwh | Power Plant annual operations and maintenance costs -US$0.8 cents per Kwh – this is a proposed annual reduction despite Operations &Maintenance will be on 300MW units as opposed to 250 MW in the earlier report. |
*GPGI Gas to Shore Presentation – April 2021
**GPGI Gas to Energy Presentation – March 2023
During the March 2023 presentation, no explanation was given for the forty (45%) percent reduction in projected energy demand which seems to contradict expectations based on the country’s anticipated increase in Gross Domestic Product, Patterson pointed out. “However, the Government has indicated that on the commissioning of the new NGL plants all other HFO plants will be turned off, since the new plant will have excess capacity.”
Further, he stated, the useful lifespan of these generators is 25 years, Vreed-en-Hoop was commissioned in 2015, Garden of Eden in 2021, Canefield in 2019, Kingston in 2012 – most having more than 20 years useful lifespan remaining. He asked who will absolve these costs – the response was that it has been considered as a “sunk” cost.
“Having completely misrepresented the projected demand as well as the economic viability of the Gas to Energy project, the Government in an effort to make this project somewhat viable, will be discarding over US$450M of investments over the last ten (10) years. Interestingly, GPL still has to repay these amounts plus undertake the burdensome costs of the new power plant.”
According to the Member of Parliament the more information revealed on the Gas to Shore project the less viable the project appears.
