Days after newly-elected Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persaud- Bissessar, said her administration will seek out a gas development collaboration with the Government of Guyana, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has shot down any such plan.
At a press conference on Thursday, Mr. Jagdeo said such a collaboration is nearly impossible since the Government of Guyana is not directly involved in the country’s gas development. He explained that there are already private arrangements in place for the development of natural gas in Guyana, with various development options already on the table.
‘Right now from the gas-to-energy project, there is no gas to supply to anyone, we need all of the gas there for power generation and the fertilizer plant, and there is a project that we have not approved as yet that is being explored between fulcrum, Exxon and the Government of Guyana to develop the gas reserves and they are exploring several options as to what to do with this gas,” the Vice President noted.
The Vice President said other options that are being explored include bringing the gas on shore for the generation of power to sell to neighbouring Brazil, or for industrialization purposes.
Mr. Jagdeo said if Trinidad and Tobago has an interest in gas development in Guyana, it will have to come through an already established partnership between the private companies, Fulcrum and ExxonMobil along with other private ventures.
“There is no other position on the table, so there is no gas today to supply to anyone, it is the development of that project. Now assuming Trinidad and Tobago be part of those discussions, I guess we can have them as part of those discussions, but we want the most feasible and the most lucrative outcome for Guyana from the use of our gas for Guyana and if taking it to Trinidad offers that outcome then fine,” MR. Jagdeo noted.
The Vice President said Government will not make investments from the national treasury to develop gas but it hopes to force ExxonMobil and other venturers to utilize the reserve or give it up.
“So given that approach, you would have, if there is going to be co-investment from another private firm, you would have to use to their own metric before they put their own money into to determine how they would verify the quantum of gas and the associated gas in the other fields, and that is why we are not going to get involve at the government level on the issue of how much has is there because that requires a lot of study”, he said.
The Government has been working along with ExxonMobil on a massive gas-to-shore project, which is expected to come on stream early next year.
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