Kaieteur News
Thursday April 12, 2022
PAGE 17
Gas-to-Shore project… Gas-to-Energy Project Manager, Mr. Friedrich Krispin
ExxonMobil refuses to disclose cost to transport gas to Wales at public consultation By Davina Bagot
G
uyanese are still clueless about the cost it will be billed by ExxonMobil to transport the gas, via a pipeline from the Liza Phase One and Two fields, in the Stabroek Block, to the Wales Power Plant on the West Bank of Demerara. This is the case as the Gas-to-Energy Project Manager, Mr. Friedrich Krispin refused to field questions on this critical aspect of the deal during a public consultation hosted by the oil company yesterday. The consultation was hosted at the Umana Ya n a , i n K i n g s t o n Georgetown specifically to hear from the public on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) recently submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). However, both the oil company and the government have been silent on the cost to transport the gas, even though some experts believe that the feasibility of the project hinges on this charge. At the meeting on Wednesday, Krispin while responding to a question
from Kaieteur News made it clear that the transportation cost is not in any way associated with the EIA and he will therefore not answer. He said, “I am very sorry, I will not be able to answer your question and that is for one simple reason; cost of production is not part of the scope of the EIA and I am not privy to disclose this at this time.” Back in 2018, the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) had partnered with the State to conduct a feasibility study of the planned offshore natural gas pipeline which was initially pegged at US$900M, but now stands at US$1.3 billion. The primary objective of the study, which was executed by Energy N a r r a t i v e f o r U S $ 7 0 , 0 0 0 — a n international entity that provides strategic market analyses and advice was to determine the overall feasibility of transporting natural gas from offshore Guyana, building a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) separation plant and a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) production plant to market the liquids from the
natural gas stream, as well as building a new electricity generation station to use the remaining dry natural gas. (See link for report: h t t p s : / / n r e . g o v. g y / w p content/uploads/2021/04/Fe
asibility-Study-forGuyanas-Offshore-NaturalGas-Pipeline.pdf) According to the study, the project’s financial feasibility hinges on the price of natural (Continued on page 21)