The use of natural gas to provide energy in Guyana continues to form a major part of the government’s plans to deliver significant benefits to the country of just over 750,000 people. Piping gas to shore will allow for flexible power generation with significantly reduced CO2 emissions at a competitive price, making it a long-term solution to meeting the country’s energy needs.
Already, plans are underway to build the necessary infrastructure for this massive transformational project, with a site already identified at Wales on the West Bank of the Demerara River.
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Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has said the critical decisions regarding the geotechnical, geophysical and the environmental studies, that will advance the project, have been made.
ExxonMobil, operator at the prolific Stabroek block, has long said no technical barriers exist for such a project and the company remains engaged with authorities for its execution.
Around 20 percent of the oil discovered at the Stabroek block is associated gas, estimated to be in the order of more than 9.6 trillion cubic feet.
Speaking to OilNOW in a recent interview, President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, said the company has already identified the volumes needed to power the plant that will be built at the location identified by Guyanese authorities.
“We’ve reported recently with the 18 discoveries to date we’re approaching 9 billion oil equivalent barrels of resource in the country. Now of that, a little bit less than 20% probably now is what we think is gas,” Routledge said.
He reminded that the gas is very much needed for the ongoing operation of the oil fields. Its primary use is for reinjection into the reservoirs which maximizes crude production.
“Nonetheless, we’ve identified and are certain that we can deliver the kind of volumes that are needed to support a gas-powered plant. So, about 50 million cubic feet per day of gas,” Routledge pointed out.
Guyana’s President, Dr. Irfaan Ali recently said that in addition to the pipeline and power generation facility, the government is considering the development of a Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) plant.
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Based on projections, the quantity of gas available from just the Liza Phase 1 Development would be enough to provide Guyana with four times its daily consumption.
