Guyana refuses to pay gas-to-energy contractor for delayed handover of worksite

Last Updated on Friday, 12 April 2024, 21:18 by Writer

The Guyana government is rejecting a US$50 million demand by American joint venturers, CH4/LINDSAYCA, for a three-month delay in the installation of electricity generators as part of the 300 megawatt natural-gas fired power plant because other contractors took too long to complete related works.

He said CH4/LINDSAYCA wants more time to install four gas turbines of 57 megawatts each — a total of 228 megawatts — or would have to pay more than $11m monthly in liquidated damages for project delays.

“They want additional money because they’re saying this is costing so our independent engineering supervision firm, a firm that we hired from India has reviewed the claim and rejected it totally to say it doesn’t have merit,” Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said Thursday.

Citing a number of delays by ExxonMobil’s contractor, Guyana Shorebase Inc; and GAICO, Mr Jagdeo said the oil major and its contractor should have transferred the site to CH4/LINDSAYCA in June 2024 but did so three months later in September. He said government had offered CH4/LINDSAYCA to extend the timeline from December 2024 to March/April 2025 by which time the entire project must be completed.

He said a three-member Dispute Adjudication and Arbitration Board was being established to address the dispute and if either side was still dissatisfied, the matter could be taken to arbitration.