A gas pipeline to Berbice could provide the fuel needed to develop industries that do not currently exist in Guyana, as the government looks to expand natural gas use beyond power generation.
This is according to Bobby Gossai Jnr., Senior Petroleum Coordinator at the Ministry of Natural Resources, who appeared on the August 17 edition of the Energy Perspectives podcast.
Gossai explained that the Gas-to-Energy (GtE) project at Wales, on the West Bank of Demerara, will serve as an industrial development blueprint for Guyana, while the proposed Berbice development could support a broader industrial and eco-industrial development model.
“The world has moved in a different direction with natural gas. Many have called natural gas a transition fuel… But the opportunities for gas development for a country like Guyana are when we take that gas to the different levels, that is whether we are going to move it in isocontainers or whether we’re going to do compressed natural gas. Once we have enough resources available, we can do other things,” Gossai stated.
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The Berbice gas development would bring non-associated natural gas from the Stabroek Block to East Berbice-Corentyne (Region Six) through a new pipeline system.
Potential gas supplies for the development include the proposed Longtail and Haimara projects. Longtail is targeting about 1 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of gas production, while Haimara will target up to 1.5 bcf/d.
Meanwhile, progress is being made on the country’s first major gas utilization project at Wales.
The GtE project has two phases. Phase one, which is under construction, will use about 50 million cubic feet of gas per day (mcf/d) from the Liza field offshore for power generation and natural gas liquids (NGL) production at about 4,000 barrels per day (b/d)
Hammerhead is expected to supply the contemplated phase two, which could use about 75 mcf/d, support a second 300-megawatt power plant and increase NGL production by up to 6,000 b/d. The government has received bids for the phase two facilities but has not selected a contractor.
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Gossai explained that the government is also looking at downstream industries that could use the gas.
“We have the crude on one hand, but we also have the gas resource on the other hand… We are looking at the downstream industries. What industry can Guyana develop to be on a competitive level? Not only with the region, but where we can take it to different parts of the world?” he said.
