The Government of Guyana (GoG) appears to be moving ahead with plans to establish the nation’s first oil refinery, as Vice President (VP) Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo today revealed that four companies have been shortlisted.
During his weekly press conference, the Vice President was asked for an update on the oil refinery, since the government issued the Request for Proposals (RFP), for the design, finance, construct and fully own the refinery. That RFP was issued in October 2022 and outlined that interested companies were required to provide several pieces of evidence to prove their worthiness for the project.
Jagdeo explained that the Ministry of Natural Resources had set up a team to do a spreadsheet on all the proposals that were received. “They were about 11 proposals, I think these have been narrowed down to about four that met all of the perimeters that we requested in the RFP, so that now need to move to the next stage…,”Jagdeo said.
The Vice President added that the next stage would be to rank the companies that are compliant before starting discussions with the company that is ranked number one. Thereafter, the government will engage that company, “to see if we can reach an agreement on the refinery.” The government had stated that the project completion is expected no later than two years after the start date.
The oil refinery is expected to process 30,000 barrels of oil per day (b/d) and will be located on land provided by the government at the mouth of the Berbice River in the vicinity of “Crab Island.”
Guyana Standard had reported that the government will provide several incentives to ensure the successful bidder is able to gain a reasonable return on its investments. Along with the estimated 30 acres of land to be provided, the government said it will also offer generous fiscal incentives for the project including a 10-year tax holiday, supply of feedstock (oil) from the Guyana Government’s share of profit oil at market prices; and access to the domestic market for the sale of refined products (if desired).
