Brassington, a no-show for panel discussion on Gas-to-Energy project

Oct 06, 2022 News

By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – Head of the controversial Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project, Winston Brassington was a no-show yesterday for a panel discussion at the Guyana Basins Summit (GBS), currently being hosted at the Pegasus Suites and Corporate Centre, in Georgetown.

Brassington was slated to be part of a discussion on the US$2 billion project that included a question and answer segment. He was expected to be the lone local representative; however, the investors who came to Guyana for the seminar were forced to speak to other foreigners in his absence.

ExxonMobil’s GTE Project Manager, Friedrich Krispin chaired the session, while the two panelists; Nicholas Sicard, Area Director for Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad at Technip FMC and Michael Gow, Guyana and Suriname Country Manager for Subsea 7- took on questions from a diverse audience. Both Technip FMC and Subsea 7 are sub-contractors of Exxon that have been contracted to work on the natural gas pipeline that will connect to two Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Vessels in the Stabroek Block, which will make landfall at Crane and end at the Wales industrial site.

ExxonMobil’s GTE Project Manager, Friedrich Krispin addresses the Guyana Basins Summit

Brazilians, Venezuelans, Trinidadians and representatives from other countries stood up to question various aspects of the pipeline to be built by ExxonMobil. As it regards the Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility and Power plant aspect, to be developed by the Guyana Government, stakeholders were turned away with no answers.

At least two of the questions directed to the panel were turned down owing the Brassington’s absence. For instance, one gentleman questioned how government would make money from the project given its significant price tag, while the other question regarding market or use for the excess gas was left unanswered.

Notably, Brassington was recently asked about the project’s feasibility while at a meeting hosted in Region Three with residents that will be affected by the pipeline. The official said he was not taking questions and that the newspaper should direct its queries to the Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat who was also present that day. But when Bharrat heard the first question, he requested that enquiries be limited to the subject of that meeting. Since the project was conceived, government has not hosted a press conference to allay the fears of the public.

The gas-to-energy project will encompass three major aspects: the pipeline to transport the gas to Wales; the NGL facility that will treat and separate the gas and the power plant to generate the electricity. So far, Guyanese have been told that the pipeline aspect, which is being pursued by US oil major, ExxonMobil, will cost around US$1.3 billion. Even this is expected to increase when Exxon closes critical contracts for same.

Meanwhile, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo anticipates the other two facilities to cost an additional US$700 million, bringing the expected project cost to around US$2 billion. This project alone costs more than half of the country’s total debt presently, yet there has been no updated feasibility study that proves its viability. Government hopes to reduce electricity costs by 50 percent when the GTE project comes on stream.

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