No gas deal with Turkish power company before elections: Jagdeo

Jun 20, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News – Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said government will not enter into any deal with Karpowership to use the offshore natural gas currently available from the Stabroek Block to generate electricity before elections.

He acknowledged that Karpowership made a good proposal, but explained that if government decides to go in that direction, no deal will be finalised with the company before elections.  “So right now, we are not going to conclude any arrangement with Karpower before the elections. As I said, last week, I told you, we are not going to have any movement on the gas monetisation project before the elections, and also the signing of the prospecting licences for the oil and gas sector before the election. So let me add that to the two that I spoke of already. We’re too close to the elections to do that,” Jagdeo said.

Elections are slated to be held on September 1, 2025. Recently, it was disclosed by Prime Minister (Ret’d) Brigadier Mark Phillips that the GTE project is further delayed and is now expected to be completed by mid-2026. Karpowership- the Turkish firm, which already supplies power to Guyana through powerships stationed in Berbice and Demerara, is offering to deploy a floating power plant capable of generating 300 megawatts (MW) of electricity using the country’s natural gas reserves from the Stabroek Block, where oil production is being carried out by American oil company ExxonMobil and its partners Hess and CNOOC.

Jagdeo had previously stated that the proposal could save the country as much as US$1 million per day by replacing expensive heavy fuel with natural gas-based generation. “If we could generate 300 megawatts of power from say the use of a barge until the power plant is ready that that would save us about a million US per day because to buy the (heavy fuel) to generate 300 megawatt of power it will cost us about a million US per day,” the Vice President had explained.

Jagdeo had pointed out that the transmission infrastructure must first be able to absorb and distribute the full capacity. “When we got the proposal, we were examining the technical feasibility, because if you generate 300 megawatts of power offshore on a barge, using the gas that’s already in the pipeline, basically because it’s completed, whether we can transmit or utilise all 300MW at this stage, given this the transmission lines, that assessment is ongoing, regardless of the outcome, we are not going to conclude any deal with Karpower,” he stated.

He had said that, “If we can’t use all of it and we have to pay for it and can’t use it because they would want you to pay for all of it, a big facility they’ll bring down, then it wouldn’t make sense.”

Notably, Karpowership’s offer would see the Turkish company bringing in its own barge, which could be operational in about 90 days once given the green light.

Moreover, Jagdeo said that since Karpowership have been supplying Guyana with power, government have been upgrading the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) system. As such, he thinks GPL have adequate power for the near term for at least until past the elections.

When asked how will the gas be transported, the Vice President explained, “So this will be an entirely new ship that is dedicated to processing the gas to generate some liquids and to use the gas to generate about 300 megawatts of power. If you move to doing that so it will be located closer to the pipeline. Then you will decommission the two ships that we have Berbice and Essequibo should not come in.”

The power plant and Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility at Wales are now expected to come on stream in 2026, despite initial promises for late 2025. Disputes with the contractor, Lindsayca/CH4, have further complicated the final cost and schedule. Brassington had previously assured that once operational, the project would cut electricity costs by 50%, delivering power at 12 US cents per kilowatt-hour, down from the current 24 to 30 US cents.

Meanwhile, the government had already turned to temporary powership solutions to ease the country’s persistent power woes. Last November, there was a signing of a second agreement between the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) and UCC Holdings for a second powership.

The deal for the second powership is for the company to supply an additional 75 megawatts of power to the national grid. Guyana’s first powership is being rented from the same company for a period of two years. That contract was signed between GPL Inc. and UCI, a subsidiary of UCC Holdings, a company incorporated in the state of Qatar. UCC Holdings reportedly has a strategic alliance with Karpowership International, a Turkish company. That deal is for some 36 megawatts of power. Karpowership arrived in May and was set up at Everton, Berbice, Region Six. For the first vessel, Guyana had to pay a mobilization fee of US$1M to get the ship here, and the contract, according to GPL, includes the provision of operation and maintenance services as part of the agreement.

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• Bharrat Jagdeo, Elections, GTE, Karpowership, Stabroek Block

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