No gas-to-energy deal with Karpowership before elections- Jagdeo

Last Updated on Thursday, 19 June 2025, 23:55 by Writer

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday ruled out any agreement before elections between government and the Turkey-headquartered Karpowership to use natural gas to supply 300 megawatts of electricity to Guyana’s grid.

“Right now, we are not going to conclude any arrangement with Karpower before the elections,” he said.

That position was also taken concerning the gas monetisation project with the United States-based Fulcrum LNG and ExxonMobil, and signing of prospecting licences for offshore oil blocks.

He also told a news conference at his People’s Progressive Party (PPP) headquarters that changing over from Karpowership’s two heavy fuel oil (HFO)-fuelled electricity generation vessels in Berbice and Demerara would also depend on the readiness of the transmission and distribution network to handle the 300-megawatt load.

Dr Jagdeo said the two Bunker C-fuelled power ships at Everton, Berbice River and Meadow Bank, Demerara River, which together supply about 100 megawatts, have allowed GPL and Power Producers and Distributors Inc to maintain their generators. “That assessment is ongoing. Regardless of the outcome, we are not going to conclude any deal with Karpower…because since those two barges came in from Karpower and have been supplying the grid, we’ve been able to now do a lot of maintenance on the old (generation) sets and so we have adequate power for the near term at least until after the elections; we have adequate power way past the elections,” he said.

Mr Jagdeo said if a deal is struck to resort to a natural gas-fired powership, that vessel would be located near the ExxonMobil-built gas pipeline for access.

With construction of the 300 megawatt Wales Gas-to-Energy natural gas-fired electricity plant and natural gas liquids plant now expected to be completed by mid-2026, he said Guyana could save about US$1 million monthly in HFO fuel purchases and pay only for the rental of the powership. “A good proposal came in from Karpower which is that, pending the completion of the gas-to-energy project which is slated for mid-next year…we can utilise the gas to generate power using a proposal that they have,” he added.

The Guyana Power and Light earlier this year inked three agreements to build out a central power control station and sub-stations from Georgetown to Moleson Creek to manage and distribute electricity from Wales when it comes on stream.

The government also plans to run a transmission line from Georgetown to Linden to distribute some of the electricity.