–Senior Petroleum Coordinator points to cheaper, stable and reliable energy as a foundation for new industries and locally manufactured products
Guyana is looking to use its natural gas resources to drive a new phase of industrial development.
Senior Petroleum Coordinator at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Dr. Bobby Gossai Jr., said cheaper, stable and reliable electricity is expected to create opportunities in industries ranging from manufacturing to petrochemicals and data centres.
Speaking recently on the Energy Perspectives podcast, Gossai said the country’s petroleum strategy is moving beyond the production and export of crude oil towards using its energy resources to support wider economic development.
He said the development of natural gas is central to that effort, with the Government already pursuing the Gas-to-Energy project as the first major step in monetising the resource.
“Priority one from the development of natural gas was generating power for electricity to supply to our national grid,” Gossai said.
According to him, the project is intended to provide cheaper, stable and reliable electricity to households and businesses while creating the conditions for additional industries to emerge.
“What we want to do is to ensure with cheaper power, stable power and reliable power that more industries can be developed,” he said.
The project is expected to cut electricity costs by 50 per cent, providing cheaper and more reliable power that the Government sees as a foundation for new industrial and commercial activity.
Gossai said the Government has already begun exploring several opportunities that could emerge from the development of the country’s gas resources.
He pointed to requests for proposals for a gas bottling plant and an ammonia-urea plant, while also identifying petrochemical industries as another area being considered.
He added, “We are looking at other petrochemical industries that can be developed here in the country.”
The broader objective, according to Gossai, is to reduce Guyana’s reliance on imported products by developing the capacity to manufacture some of those goods locally.
“Some of the very things that we import every single day we can have those products be made here in Guyana,” he noted.
He said the industrialisation strategy is not limited to heavy industry, noting that opportunities also exist in lighter manufacturing and other areas that could benefit from more reliable energy.
Gossai said the Government is also working on a gas utilisation and monetisation plan, which is expected to identify additional opportunities as more of the country’s gas resources become available for development.
He said this represents a broader approach to petroleum development that encompasses the upstream, midstream and downstream segments of the industry.
“We are effectively looking to develop our energy industry that can take us into industrialisation,” Gossai said.
The Senior Petroleum Coordinator said the next stage will involve using energy resources to support industries capable of producing goods for both the domestic and international markets.
He said Guyana is seeking to move beyond an economy primarily focused on producing consumable goods and towards greater manufacturing and industrial production.
“We are looking to get into other types of products that will take us to the next stage from being a manufacturing country,” Gossai said.
He described the intended development as “eco-industrial”, pointing to the Government’s emphasis on environmental management alongside economic growth.
Gossai also identified data centres as another potential area of development, noting that such facilities will depend heavily on the type and reliability of energy Guyana is able to produce.
“We were looking at some of the other industries such as data centers as well and those are going to be heavily dependent on the type of energy that we are able to produce.”
He said Guyana’s industrial ambitions also extend beyond meeting domestic demand, with the Government assessing opportunities to supply regional markets.
Gossai pointed to the gas bottling plant as an example, stating officials considered both the demand within Guyana and potential regional demand when examining the opportunity.
“We are looking at that level of competitiveness and industries that we can see can flourish over time,” he said.
The development of gas resources is therefore being positioned as more than an energy project, with Gossai describing it as a potential foundation for broader economic transformation.
He later identified natural gas development as Guyana’s biggest opportunity over the next decade, noting the resource could be developed in several forms depending on the quantity available.
The Senior Petroleum Coordinator pointed to possibilities including transportation in ISO containers and compressed natural gas, while noting that greater resource availability could support additional forms of development.
Gossai also highlighted plans for further gas infrastructure, including a potential second pipeline to Berbice.
He said the second pipeline could provide a significant increase in the volume of gas available for development and could support industrial activity in the region.
He linked this to the second phase of development at Wales, which he said is expected to establish an industrial development blueprint that could potentially be applied elsewhere in Guyana.
With the additional gas supply, he said, Guyana could move towards industries that do not currently exist in the country.
He noted, “It’s going to take us into that industrial, eco-industrial development that we want to see, and into industries that we may not even have now but can develop because of the gas and the power we can get from it.”
The Senior Petroleum Coordinator said the ultimate objective is to use the country’s finite petroleum resources as a foundation for sustainable economic growth, rather than allowing the economy to become permanently dependent on hydrocarbons.
