Guyana asks for proposals to build “open-access” natural gas facility

Last Updated on Sunday, 14 January 2024, 11:54 by Denis Chabrol

The Guyana government is calling for private sector investors to propose how they can construct  a centralised gas connection, storage and transport facility for all natural gas accessed and produced by all oil companies operating in Guyana.

In its Request for Proposals, the Ministry of Natural Resources, as the procuring entity, asked businesses to say how they would design, finance, construct and operate the required gas infrastructure to support upstream development.

“The Government of Guyana (GoG) is seeking the safe and timely development of its gas resources as well as creating an open-access infrastructure system for all existing and future Upstream participants to support current and future Upstream developments in Guyana,” states the RFP (Request for Proposals) that was published on January 13, 2024. Government defines “Upstream” as meaning the upstream oil and gas developments including the necessary pipelines to connect, as needed, to such gas infrastructure required to monetize upstream gas

The strict deadline for submission to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board is February 27, 2024. “All late submissions shall be rejected and returned to Applicants unopened.” Proposals will be valid from 120 days from the date of opening.

The Ministry of Natural Resources envisages that the project will be strictly financed and owned 100% by the private sector. As part of this
RFP process, the selected applicant, if any, with the most optimum solution for the project, will  be allowed to exclusively “negotiate with the government of Guyana for its entitlement of gas to ensure the viability of the project and the overall value chain.”

Government wants prospective developers to state in their proposals, their capability and credibility to execute such a project; clear written agreements among the parties, and if a consortium, evidence of consortium agreement for this project; site Plan for the project; summarized and detailed project schedule; project costs and project structure diagram.

The proposals will also have to include a business plan; list of legal agreements, proposed capital structure and details of proposed Local Content.

President Irfaan Ali, speaking at Saturday’s commissioning of a wharf facility at GAICO, Nismes, West Bank Demerara, remarked that, the project would “loo0k at how we are going to utilise our gas to stimulate wealth and create opportunities in positioning Guyana as an important capital in the energy security matrix of the region.”

Opposition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition spokesman on oil and gas, David Patterson, at the weekend criticised the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) administration for developing and using Guyana’s natural gas in an ad hoc manner. He, instead, cited the need for a hub like in Ghana to allow for all of Guyana’s gas from different producing companies to be accessed from a central location. “You must have a whole development plan. You can’t go in Wales and then you want one in Berbice. When you have a whole plan, you have a hub and all your various operators that strike oil, they pump into the central hub, the government pays them in whatever agreement and the government takes that and puts it where it wants it,” he said.

Mr Patterson said ExxonMobil would, for instance, not allow other companies to connect to the same pipeline that would be supplying gas to  electricity generator and natural gas liquids plants that are being built at Wales, West Bank Demerara.

The Guyana government has already published its Natural Gas Strategy.