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“In order to get back to the [levels] of production
they had maybe 10 years or 15 years or 20 years
ago, it will take about three to four years because
they don’t have the technical capacity to [reach]
that acceleration,” he told Bloomberg.
By contrast, Duque said, Colombia has
already laid the groundwork necessary to push
production upward. He declared that his coun-
try was on track to see its oil output reach 1mn
bpd in the near future. Yields may even rise by
50-100%, reaching 1.5-2.0mn bpd within the
next four years, if plans for working with com-
panies from the US and other companies to
develop new upstream assets come to fruition, File photo of President Ivan Duque (Photo: Presidencia.gov.co)
he said.
He drew particular attention to the poten- to historically large hydrocarbon deposits.
tial of the country’s offshore assets, saying that “Colombia today can become a strategic energy
the undeveloped subsea fields that the country supplier, not only to the US but to other markets
has been offering to investors might be home around the world,” he declared. ™

GUYANA
Former CDB official describes Guyana’s

estimate of GTP project cost as reasonable

DR. Justin Ram, the former director of eco-
nomics at the Caribbean Development Bank
(CDB), has declared that he believes Guyana’s
cost estimate of $900mn-$1bn for a planned gas-
to-power (GTP) project is reasonable and not
overstated.
In fact, he said in a recent interview with Oil-
NOW.gy, the final price tag for the GTP initia-
tive may end up being even higher.
During the interview, he pointed out that
Guyana was “starting from scratch” with respect
to setting up all the facilities and infrastructure
associated with the GTP project. Under these
circumstances, he said, the country has a great
deal of work to do before it can begin to make
any use of the associated gas contained in its The GTP project will see gas from Stabroek piped to shore (Image: ExxonMobil)
offshore oilfields. The impact this has on costs
should not be overlooked, he said. materials, equipment and other inputs needed
“I am not too concerned about that price, to build the pipeline and other facilities associ-
because I think that is within the general ball- ated with the GTP scheme are likely to rise.
park of trying to bring gas to shore ... I don’t These price increases will affect projects
think it sounds out of whack,” he remarked. around the world, not just in this particular case,
Ram said he believed the money would be he added.
well spent, as the GTP project would deliver “The cost of [the GTP] project could actually
more than its face value to the Guyanese econ- go up again, but that has nothing to do with what
omy. He also hailed Georgetown’s efforts to is going on in Guyana,” he said. “It is all about
secure private-sector investment for the project, international price of capacity, the price to bring
saying that this arrangement would help reduce people in, the price for the materials to build the
risks. actual infrastructure.”
Nevertheless, he cautioned that the final Guyana’s government is working with
price tag might be higher than originally pro- Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd
jected. Since the global economy is currently in (EEPGL), a subsidiary of US-based ExxonMo-
an inflationary period, he noted, the costs of the bil, on the GTP project.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 16 21•April•2022