Guyana Searches For Company to Build NGL Facility

Guyana is looking for a company willing to build a natural gas liquids (NGL) facility as part of efforts to monetize its offshore gas reserves, according to a notice published by the South American government on Sunday.

The storage and offloading facility would receive about 4,200 barrels per day (bpd) of liquids from a separation plant that is currently under construction. Once operational, that plant will strip the liquids from natural gas piped to shore from offshore fields operated by a consortium led by Exxon Mobil.

The new NGL facility project will include a pipeline and be scalable to receive another 5,900 bpd of liquids in a second phase, according to the notice. The government wants experienced firms to submit pre-qualification proposals so they can later bid in a proposed tender, it said.

Guyana plans to first commercialize the natural gas the Exxon consortium is producing through the flagship Gas-to-Energy project. The U.S. oil major finished the construction of a $1-billion pipeline to shore last year and is now waiting for the completion of onshore infrastructure being built by a separate group to put the line in service.

When it receives the gas, the government will separate the natural gas liquids for sale and use the dry gas to generate power for domestic use.

Originally set for completion last year, delays involving the contractors involved in the Gas-to-Energy project have set back the date for seeing the first gas transported by Exxon. An initial flow of 50 million cubic feet per day is now expected by mid-2026, Guyana's Prime Minister Mark Phillips said in May.

The Exxon-led consortium controls all oil and gas production in Guyana, but only crude is currently being exported.

(Reuters)