Page 5 - LatAmOil Week 09 2022

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil

This gas-to-power (GTP) scheme has been Force, believes that it may be.
under discussion since September 2020, and In late February, Brassington told Argus
Guyana’s government has already started seek- Media that Georgetown had reduced the scale of
ing contractors for some components of the the GTP scheme because ExxonMobil had not
project. locked in a commitment to send enough gas to
In January, for instance, it received 12 bids for support all of the facilities the government had
the construction of a gas-fired thermal power hoped to build. Without a guarantee of adequate
plant (TPP) and a natural gas liquids (NGL) supplies, he explained, Guyanese authorities
plant near the terminus of the pipeline that cannot commit to the most expansive version
will pump gas from the Liza-1 and Liza-2 fields of the gas hub.
ashore. ExxonMobil, meanwhile, has said it “The amount of available gas would not be
wants to make a final investment decision (FID) sufficient to power all projects,” he remarked.
on the GTP project, which is expected to carry a “There is no commitment yet from ExxonMobil
price tag of $600-900mn, in the first half of 2022. to bring additional gas. We don’t have sufficient
gas for the value-added opportunities.”
More ambitious plans He indicated that the US super-major was
These plans have led some officials in George- ready to commit to delivering 50mn cubic feet Brassington
town to pursue bigger dreams – to look beyond (1.42 mn cubic metres) per day of gas from the
the original plan for a power station and NGL Liza-1 and Liza-2 fields to shore via the pipeline, said Georgetown
plant and to consider building a sprawling enough to fuel a 250-MW TPP and a 612,000 had reduced the
industrial park, home to petrochemical and fer- cubic metre per day NGL plant.
tiliser plants, as well as a larger TPP capable of But if ExxonMobil does not pledge more gas scale of the GTP
providing power to multiple on-site manufac- – enough to fill the pipeline near to its capac-
turing facilities. ity of 130 mmcf (3.68 mcm) per day – then the scheme because
They have also inspired talk about regional GTP line will not be able to supply a 300-MW
energy networks – about using gas from offshore TPP, a 1.7 mcm per day liquids plant, ammonia it did not yet have
fields to fire TPPs capable of delivering electric- and urea production units and a gas bottling a commitment
ity to Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and plant capable of loading fuel into canisters that
northern Brazil, provided that a new transmis- Guyanese gold and bauxite mines could use as a from ExxonMobil
sion grid could be put in place. Guyanese and replacement for diesel.
Surinamese officials have held several discus- Guyanese Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo still on additional
sions on the idea, and Brazilian President Jair holds out hope for the more expansive version
Bolsonaro has also expressed interest. However, of the GTP project, according to Argus Media. supplies of gas
the parties put talks on hold in January of this He said in late February that Georgetown was
year, when the Brazilian leader left a tripartite still in discussions with ExxonMobil on how to
summit early following the death of his mother. make more gas available to the onshore facilities.
Additionally, they have encouraged some “ExxonMobil is re-injecting some gas, but we
investors to draw up their own plans for gas are discussing whether we can get more jointly
from other parts of the Guyana-Suriname basin. if it is monetised rather than re-injected,” he
Houston-based Phoenix Development Co., for commented.
example, is looking to set up a facility offshore It’s not clear how long these discussions
Suriname that will be able to take delivery of might take, but Jagdeo does seem sincere in his
Guyanese and Surinamese associated gas and desire to strike a deal with Georgetown. In the
then process it into LNG for export or pipe it to meantime, though, the GTP project will proba-
shore for use near Paramaribo. This plan is sim- bly remain in its more modest form for the time
ilar to Guyana’s GTP scheme, in that it would being. And if it does, the schemes that are even
make offshore gas available for local use, but it more expansive (and, presumably, even more
goes even further, in that it provides for estab- expensive) – the regional gas-fired power grid
lishing a base for exports to the world market. discussed earlier this year by Guyana, Suriname
and Brazil and the LNG/gas hub proposed by
Proper timing PDC – are also likely to remain on the back
But is it too soon to reach for such lofty targets? burner. They may not stay there forever, but
Winston Brassington, the head of the Guyanese they may also take more time than their backers
Natural Resources Ministry’s Gas-to-Shore Task might like to come to fruition. ™

ExxonMobil has deployed the Liza Destiny FPSO at the Liza-2 oilfield (Photo: ExxonMobil)

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