Wedoany.com Report-Mar 12, Day two of CERAWeek by S&P Global held many energetic discussions, with key themes surrounding innovation, energy security, and the global forces shaping the industry. Notably, a luncheon and discussion between S&P Global Vice Chairman Daniel Yergin and Guyana’s President and Commander-in-Chief H.E. Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, shed light on what has fueled the nation’s rapid economic growth, and what’s to come.
Guyana's President Mohamed Irfaan Ali addresses the audience in a discussion at CERAWeek 2025 in Houston, Texas.
The South American nation has become a powerhouse of oil and gas development in recent years and holds keen interest for the global energy sector, an enthusiasm that was apparent by the full ballroom of attendees eager to hear direct insights from the country’s leader. Yergin enlightened a brief history on oil development in Guyana, noting that first discovery was just shy of a decade ago in 2015, with first production coming in 2019. Today, Yergin noted, Guyana produces 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) and is on a fast track to increase production to 1.5 million bpd in just two years’ time.
President Ali showed humility and confidence in Guyana’s growth story, noting the importance of infrastructure investment, and the broader goal of establishing resilience for Guyana’s economy.
“You can’t have investment without resources. And you can’t have resources without exploring the natural reserves that you have,” explained Ali. “This has allowed us to develop Guyana through economic diversification, and with resilience at the center. We want to be an energy hub. A stable force that offers energy security, stability and ultimately political stability as well.”
Investing in necessary infrastructure to enable the private sector was critical for Guyana’s successful expansion into the oil and gas sector, Ali noted. "One thing we knew from first starting oil development was that this was a very complex industry," Ali said. "Our private sector was new to all this, and we did not have the scale to participate without first heavily investing in infrastructure."
Discussion of infrastructure then segued into S&P Chairman Yergin prompting President Ali to share Guyana's progress on bringing natural gas onshore for electric generation—a topic Ali was eager to talk about.
Ali noted that while cost will remain an inhibiting factor, Guyana is pursuing opportunities to turn this to their competitive advantage, referencing the highly anticipated Gas-to-Energy project. A collaborative development between the Guyanese government and ExxonMobil, the Gas-to-Energy project will consist of a 12-inch pipeline with a maximum capacity of 120 MMcf/d, and is designed to transport gas from Exxon's offshore operations in the Stabroek block to onshore facilities for power generation. The project is slated to begin operations in 2025, with an initial capacity of 50 MMcf/d.
On another note, progress has been made the past several years to establish a cooperative, collaborative regional 'energy corridor' between Guyana, Suriname and Brazil. President Ali mentioned at CERAWeek that they are specifically looking into developing a facility to connect Suriname to northern Brazil in order to facilitate an integrated regional energy hub.
Talk of large-scale data hub development was prominent across CERAWeek’s day-two sessions, and President Ali iterated that Guyana is pursuing this avenue as well. “We’re striving to be a major player on the technical frontier,” Ali said, “and we are working on using natural gas to generate power to drive large-scale data centers.”
Ali does not shy away from truth that oil and gas developments have been the main catalyst for propelling Guyana forward, although he made the distinction that there are a wide array of economic strengths and goals in sight. "We want to be known as an economy that was propelled by revenue from oil and gas projects, but also an economy that is resilient and highly integrated,” Ali concluded. “In the next three to four years, we’ll have perhaps two of the largest oil operators in Guyana. A lot of opportunities will be unlocked.”
