{"id":29469,"date":"2026-04-18T20:19:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T00:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/?p=29469"},"modified":"2026-04-18T20:19:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T00:19:47","slug":"regional-refinery-revival-talks-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/regional-refinery-revival-talks-underway\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional refinery revival talks underway"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Regional energy cooperation is back on the table.\u00a0This time, there are talks between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago on restarting a long-shuttered\u00a0oil refinery, while the Dominican Republic is also signaling renewed interest in partnering\u00a0with Guyana on local refining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, officials stress that no deals are signed, and everything remains in the discussion phase.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking on the Guyana Dialogue, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat says the talks are\u00a0still early, but momentum is building around the idea of regional collaboration.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;The refinery has been closed for a number of years now.\u00a0I think it&#8217;s probably about four to five years now, the refinery has been closed,&#8221;<\/strong> he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trinidad, he says, is now actively examining options to bring the 140,000-barrel-per-day\u00a0facility back online, but it won&#8217;t be cheap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;However, Trinidad is looking at opportunities to, or the possibility, rather, to reopen\u00a0that refinery, to put it back into operation.\u00a0It requires some amount of investment, capital investment,&#8221; <\/strong>the minister explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the centre of the discussion is crude supply. Guyana&#8217;s booming oil production is being considered as potential feedstock for a restarted refinery.\u00a0But Bharrat is making one thing clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;Nothing is agreed. No decision has been taken yet by either Guyana or Trinidad.\u00a0It is just at a stage where we are still in talks.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, another refining conversation is also unfolding. The Dominican Republic has reaffirmed its interest in partnering with Guyana on developing\u00a0a small-scale refinery, following an earlier proposal for a 30,000-barrel-per-day facility\u00a0here.\u00a0But that plan is also under review.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bharrat points to one major hurdle, logistics.\u00a0Guyana, he says, still lacks a deep-water port capable of handling large crude carriers,\u00a0a critical requirement for any refinery project.\u00a0Instead, government planners are eyeing Region 6, particularly Crab Island and Berbice, as\u00a0a future energy hub, linking a possible refinery with a deep-water port and gas infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The renewed interest comes as global oil markets face volatility, driven by geopolitical tensions,\u00a0reigniting conversations around energy security and regional self-sufficiency.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Regional energy cooperation is back on the table.\u00a0This time, there are talks between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago on restarting a long-shuttered\u00a0oil refinery, while the Dominican Republic is also signaling&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[361,350,428],"tags":[488,370,429,412,405],"class_list":["post-29469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-and-economy","category-news","category-oil-gas","tag-488","tag-guyana","tag-ministry-of-natural-resources","tag-ncn-guyana","tag-ncn-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29471,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29469\/revisions\/29471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncnguyana.com\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}