GUYANA-Government yet to sign agreement with US-based company to build storage facility.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo says no agreement has been signed with the US-based Curlew Midstream to build a storage facility here, nearly eight months after the Guyana government had announced plans for cheaper fuels by year’s end.

“There were some major differences in the terms of the deal,” Jagdeo told a news conference.

The government had suspended negotiations with several oil and gas sector companies until after the September 1 general and regional elections.

The intention was for Curlew Midstream to construct a US$300 million state-of-the-art depot with a capacity of 750,000 barrels of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and heavy fuel oil.

Jagdeo told reporters that the Irfaan Ali government would “re-engage” with Curlew Midstream and others to ensure that the deal would benefit the population.

“We’ll only sign up to an agreement that protects Guyana in the long-term but would yield significant short-term benefits to our country,” he said, adding that the project had entailed procurement of the fuels through Curlew Midstream and the establishment of a tank farm in Guyana to store more fuel to cut the price of procurement by between 20 and 35 per cent.

“That’s entirely doable. Suppose we can do that, although we have the lowest gasoline and diesel prices in the Caribbean due to government subsidies. In that case, we can get that price even further down, significantly cheaper, and that is the essence of the deal,” Jagdeo said.

He said if the government could not secure such terms, it would not sign an agreement.

“We have our lawyers working on this, and we are not going to be very convenient to sign things today that will harm our country 10 years from now, 20 years from now. We are not going to be rushed into signing any agreement,” Jagdeo said, insisting that the government would do “all of the due diligence” before signing an agreement.

In February, President Ali had stated that by the end of this year, Guyana would be purchasing cheaper fuels, amounting to approximately 30,000 barrels per day, from Curlew Midstream.

He said then that the project also envisaged Guyana being a fuel hub for the Caribbean and northern Brazil.