VP Jagdeo: No deal with Karpowership before elections

The government will not ink any agreement before the 2025 polls with Karpowership, a Turkish-based company, which has proposed to use Guyana’s natural gas resources to supply 300 megawatts of power to the national grid.

Vice President and General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo made the announcement during a news conference at Freedom House on Thursday. The general and regional elections are scheduled for September 1, 2025.

When questioned by a reporter on any possible deal, he said, “We are not going to conclude any arrangement with Karpowership before elections…. We’re too close to the elections to do that.”

At last week’s press conference, the vice president said the will not sign any gas development agreement with Fulcrum LNG before the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) ends its term in office. Similarly, no arrangements for prospecting licenses for oil and gas development will be inked.

With the flagship Gas-to-Energy project completion delayed to mid-2026, Karpowership is offering to place a floating power plant that can generate 300 megawatts (MW) of electricity using the natural gas reserves from the Stabroek Block.

According to Dr Jagdeo this proposal is favourable and, “That assessment is ongoing [but] regardless of the outcome – we are not going to conclude any deal with Karpowership.

During a recent press conference, he had explained that the country could save US$1 million per day, if the government has to consider the proposal.

At present, the Turkish company is supplying the national grid with almost 100MW of electricity from two ship barges stationed in Berbice and Demerara.

And according to the vice president, “We [GPL] have adequate power way past the election.”

The GTE project, when operational, has the capacity of slashing electricity costs by 50 per cent, addressing an age-old issue of high energy costs in Guyana. Also, with the power demand surging in the last few years, the GTE will boost generating capacity to address the issue of power outages.

The government also plans to sell cooking gas, fertiliser and other natural gas by-products to neighbouring countries to ensure Guyanese earn more from this newly found wealth.

US-based company CH4 Lindsayca is building out the integrated facility in Wales for US$759 million while Kalpataru Projects International Limited is establishing the transmission lines and substation needed to deliver electricity.

ExxonMobil Guyana has completed the construction of a pipeline that will allow natural gas to be transported from the offshore Stabroek Block’s Liza oilfield to an integrated gas processing facility in Wales.

Earlier this year, Guyana and the United States Export-Import (EXIM) Bank signed a US$527 million loan to further support the development of the GTE project.  President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali said this investment would result in savings for the country over US$250 million, positively impacting the injection of disposable income.