ExxonMobil Guyana Commercial Manager Paul Foster on Tuesday said that there are unique advantages to investing in Guyana, as he urged potential investors to plan and align strategies on natural gas-fed projects to be located at an upcoming industrial hub in Berbice.
Guyana has been urging Exxon to develop the Pluma and Haimara gas fields situated in the southeast portion of the Stabroek Block, close to the Suriname border. The company is considering a major development that would include piping gas to Guyana’s Berbice county, which President Irfaan Ali has indicated must be a new growth pole as the country’s economy booms.
Foster, who also serves as ExxonMobil Guyana’s Vice President, addressed the Berbice Development Summit at the Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, explaining that upstream gas production and a pipeline from the southeast section of the Stabroek Block would serve as the foundation for the onshore industries the government hopes to facilitate.
“We’re all going to need to work together, government and the private sector, so that no participant is taking inappropriate risk. The whole value chain ultimately has to hang together,” he said.
Foster said Berbice would offer reliable energy, abundant water and a rare “disaster-free” location, which he described as an advantage for projects such as data centers that avoid regions prone to hurricanes and earthquakes.
He added that Guyana could be linked to the United States, Latin America and Europe through new subsea fiber-optic connections requiring relatively modest investment. Exxon is working with the government to identify which industries could operate competitively once natural gas from the Stabroek Block is brought ashore in Berbice county.
Global Leader of Emerging Technology Ecosystem at EY, Jay Persaud, also presented at the event, calling Berbice “the next frontier” and outlining a vision for a 2-gigawatt (GW) data center, heavy industry facilities and other commercial developments.
President Irfaan Ali in his presentation said his administration aims to maximize foreign, regional and diaspora investment while keeping debt financing low. He said he is “not willing to push monetisation beyond 2030,” signalling his intention to secure a major gas development before his constitutional term ends in 2031.
Guyana is already advancing Gas-to-Energy infrastructure at Wales in the Demerara county, using gas from the Liza field in the first phase and from the Hammerhead development in a second phase expected in 2029. The government recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Cerebras Systems, outlining plans to build a 100-MW data center there, powered by gas transported through a pipeline Exxon installed last year.
Exxon is also seeking approval for its Longtail project, which it plans for the start-up of condensate production in 2030, with natural gas ramping up to substantial volumes in later years.
