Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources to meet with GTE head

Chairman of the Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources Dawn Hastings-Williams has informed that the parliamentary body is expected to meet with Head of the Gas-toShore Energy (GTE) project Winston Brassington next month, to discuss matters relating to the project’s operation.

Last year, the Sectoral Committee’s work programmes included meetings with the Ministry of Natural Resources, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Local Content Secretariat, and ExxonMobil Guyana Limited. However, HastingsWilliams disclosed that several of the meetings with Brassington were delayed.

The chairman said that the committee was scheduled to meet with Brassington and the other representatives of the GTE on February 23, but this was postponed to March. She noted that a date for the meeting is tentative.

Even as the government awaits funding on the US$759 million GTE project, works are forging ahead at the West Bank Demerara site with pipe laying, constructing of internal roads, and a materials offloading wharf, pile driving, as well as land preparation and other tasks. And while sources state that only five per cent of the 200 kilometres of pipelines to be laid for the completion of the project has been done to date, work continues daily on that process. A subsea pipeline is expected to be installed on the seafloor to transport natural gas from the Liza field to an onshore pipeline on the West Coast Demerara to the integrated facility in Wales.

At this facility, a natural gas liquids (NGL) processing plant will treat the gas to extract NGLs for commercial use, and a 300megawatt power plant will use the dry gas to generate electricity for domestic use. It is expected that the cost of electricity for consumers will be reduced by some 50 per cent. Currently, the power utility, Guyana Power and Light (GPL) provides electricity at a rate of 15 US cents per kilowatt hour.

Asked if any pressing matters were unearthed from the seven meetings convened by the Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources, the APNU+AFC member responded that there were none. She told this newspaper that Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat gave an update on the performance of his ministry and the natural resources sector, while interviews were conducted with GGMC Head Newell Dennison and the director of the Local Content Secretariat.

According to the opposition member, the committee is hoping to meet every two weeks.