Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has reaffirmed that liquefied natural gas (LNG) remains a key option in Guyana’s plan to monetize its gas resources, even as ExxonMobil focuses on bringing more gas onshore for domestic use.
Jagdeo sought to clarify comments made by ExxonMobil Guyana President Alistair Routledge, who said the company is “not progressing plans to liquefy any of the gas” from Longtail or other developments at this time. The Vice President said the Government’s priority is to generate revenue from the resource in the shortest time feasible.
“When we said we want to monetize the gas and that we were going to go out for an expression of interest to get a company that would work with us and Exxon in a tripartite way, we’re serious about it,” Jagdeo said at his Thursday press briefing. He added, “Anything that would make the project feasible will be a priority for us because it will bring a revenue stream to the country.”
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He explained that the Government is keeping all options open, including a floating LNG platform, which he said could be implemented faster than onshore infrastructure. “The most feasible use should be pursued, the one that brings the greatest return to Guyana and to our people,” Jagdeo emphasized.
Routledge, speaking at a recent press briefing earlier this week, said ExxonMobil continues to work with the government to prioritize the use of gas within Guyana to support national development. “What we’ve been working with the government on is to prioritize availability of gas and supply of gas onshore, into the country, where it would have the highest value,” he said.
He explained that local applications such as power generation, data centers, and the conversion of bauxite to aluminum could offer greater benefits to the economy than exporting LNG. “Liquefied natural gas is really just a sort of virtual pipeline,” Routledge said. “It’s a way of shrinking gas so you can store and ship it, but in its own right, that is all it’s doing, really just exporting the gas in a similar way to the oil.”
He added that Exxon prefers to focus on projects that expand gas use within Guyana, similar to the ongoing Gas-to-Energy initiative at Wales, and potentially extending pipelines to Berbice in the future.
Guyana’s gas agenda includes several large-scale projects designed to power its energy transition and industrial growth. The Gas-to-Energy project at Wales on the West Bank Demerara will use gas piped from ExxonMobil’s offshore fields to fuel a 300-megawatt power plant and natural gas liquids facility.
Exxon’s Hammerhead project, its seventh Stabroek Block development, will produce around 150,000 barrels of oil per day and supply associated gas to the pipeline network. Meanwhile, the Longtail development, the company’s first major non-associated gas project, is being designed to handle up to one billion cubic feet of gas per day and produce 250,000 barrels of condensate.
