Guyana to seek investors for oil refinery

Last Updated on Tuesday, 4 October 2022, 15:26 by Denis Chabrol

The Guyana government on Tuesday announced it would be seeking expressions of interest from the private sector for the construction of a small modular refinery with a capacity of 30,000 barrels per day to satisfy local fuel demand.

President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday announced that the government plans to build the refinery. “We are looking at the launch of an expression of interest for a 30,000 barrel refinery. This expression of interest will be launched soon,”  Dr Ali said at the formal unveiling of the ISO Standard for the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest).

Chief Executive Officer of GO-Invest) Peter Ramsaroop said government hoped to possibly build the refinery near a river in Berbice but with newer technologies it is hoped that such a facility would minimise emissions.

Dr Ramsaroop pointed to the escalating global fuel prices, partly due to the Russia-Ukraine war,  as a key factor that influenced government’s decision for a private sector business to build the refinery. “I think it is very important for Guyana to look at how it can sustain itself in the long term and I think the refinery is just one more step of us looking at our needs in the near future,” he told reporters.

Guyana recently ordered the reduction of gasoline and diesel prices by double-digit percent to ease the pass through of fuel prices on goods and services.

Guyana is expected to produced almost 1 million barrels of oil per day in another three years.

The The locally-registered company, GuyEnergy, back in 2018 had announced plans to build a 30,000 barrel per day modular refinery in Linden but since then nothing has been heard.