Investors want 100,000-barrel refinery in Guyana, Ali sees need for critical infrastructure

The Irfaan Ali-led administration in Guyana is serious about establishing an oil refinery to harness some of the country’s oil to support domestic and possibly regional demand. Investors, however, want a facility large enough to process about 100,000 barrels of oil daily.

“We always contemplated the possibility of a refinery. When producing 300,000 barrels per day, you could’ve only spoken about a 30,000-barrel refinery. Now that we are going up to 1.5 million, that scenario completely changes.

“We have had interest then and interest now that tells us that listen, a refinery, to be scalable, must be 100,000 barrels per day,” President Ali told Fueled in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the 2026 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas.

In 2022, a Request for Proposals was issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources for the design, financing, and construction of a refinery on about 30 acres of land at Crab Island, found at the mouth of the Berbice River. The government said then that it would provide the land and supply oil from Guyana’s share of the profit oil produced offshore.

Importantly, it was noted that “generous fiscal incentives” for the project, including a 10-year tax holiday, will be provided. Even though the government will provide much support, it was noted that the project will be strictly financed and owned by the private sector.

President Ali acknowledged that a 100,000-barrel refinery is an enormous venture. But there are some key factors to consider. For one, he said, Guyana enjoys the availability of feedstock (the raw materials such as crude oil fed into the refinery units for conversion into fuel or other chemical products). The President also said Guyana would have offtake agreements, finding ready markets for the refined products.

As the refinery is being contemplated, the Head of State sees the need for other critical infrastructure that could help with energy security efforts and create wealth creation opportunities.

A mega storage facility to hold oil produced is one venture he is seriously considering. Dr. Ali also believes that a logistics hub could support the transportation of refined products to northern Brazil and around the Caribbean.

These ventures, he believes, are strategic incremental investments that make the refinery more feasible.

An oil refinery is being seriously considered to meet local demand and help insulate the country from any disruptions caused by global shocks like those stemming from the current closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas is shipped.

As investors maintain an interest in a refinery in Guyana, the country’s President remains keen on making this a viable undertaking.

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