Guyana will become one of the region’s top oil producers in the next few years, but the world’s newest petro-state increasingly sees gas as vital for growing its domestic economy.
Work will begin on constructing a major gas-fired power plant in 2022 on the expectation that a 220-kilometre pipeline will be built. Guyana needs the gas and hydropower so that it can depend on its own energy to deliver its goods and services.
Guyana’s new energy wealth has already made it one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, with the International Monetary Fund forecasting gross domestic product expanding 20 percent this year. Still, electricity in the tiny country with a population of about 750,000, is expensive and unreliable because it is largely generated by burning imported fuel oil and distributed via an aging transmission system.
The government sees an opportunity to change that through Exxon Mobil Corp’s massive offshore oil developments. The discoveries, of around 10 billion barrels of oil, also contain vast amounts of natural gas, which government officials want to use for power generation.
Comments (0)
We appreciate your feedback. You can comment here with your pseudonym or real name. You can leave a comment with or without entering an email address. All comments will be reviewed before they are published.