Be it through budgetary allocations or a contingent line of credit under negotiations, the US$1.8B gas-to-energy project will be completed. This assurance was confidently provided today by Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo at his weekly press conference held at Freedom House.
The chief policymaker for the oil sector made it clear that the project, which is expected to slash electricity costs by 50 percent by 2025, enjoys bipartisan support from US Congress as well as top brass from the US Exim Bank. That financial institution is considering Guyana’s application for a US$660M loan for the gas project.
Jagdeo said this support has not waned despite a recent announcement by US President, Joe Biden to pause approvals for pending and future applications for American companies to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from new projects. Biden’s decision was welcomed by climate activists, some of whom have already said he should now extend his ban on external financial support for projects such as Guyana’s gas-to-energy project.
Vice President Jagdeo made it clear that Biden’s decision is not likely to have such a far reaching effect. He said Biden’s move is more to do with pressure he is facing to curtail the US contribution to climate change and to meet its emission reduction goals by 2050. He also clarified that Biden is still granting approval for drilling in other parts of the USA.
“So we anticipate this project will be supported but we always have options,” Dr. Jagdeo said, adding “This project shall be completed and it will make a huge difference in the lives of people here.”
Regarding the options available outside of the US Exim Bank, Jagdeo said a contingent line of credit is available to the government. Apart from this, he said the Treasury is already supporting the project. In this regard, the Vice President said US$100M has already been doled out to meet payments to US-based partnership CH4/Lindsayca which has been contracted to build a 300MW power plant and a natural gas liquids (NGL) plant at Wales. When completed, these two facilities will receive about 50 million standard cubic feet of gas per day from an offshore pipeline being built by ExxonMobil Guyana Limited.
