> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Guyana Added About US$97 Million to a Contract in Exchange for Power by the End of 2026. That Deadline Is Nine Weeks Away. - URL: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-lindsayca-wales-97-million-settlement-first-power-deadline-2026/ - Published: 2026-10-25T17:45:33.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-01T05:19:57.000Z - Description: The Office of the Prime Minister settled two disputes with Lindsayca Guyana Inc on 14 May 2026, raising the Wales contract 12.8 per cent on US$759 million. The contractor committed to first power by the end of 2026, and the government kept the right to reinstate penalties if that date is missed. - Author: Theon Alleyne - Tags: Guyana, Oil and Gas, Energy, Business **Quick summary:** The Office of the Prime Minister settled two disputes with Lindsayca Guyana Inc on 14 May 2026, raising the Wales contract 12.8 per cent on US$759 million. The contractor committed to first power by the end of 2026, and the government kept the right to reinstate penalties if that date is missed. By LCN Wire A deadline is a thing a government can buy. Guyana bought one in May, and the terms were announced. ## What did the settlement actually buy? A date, three milestones and a penalty the government can switch back on. The Office of the Prime Minister announced on 14 May 2026 that it had settled two disputes with Lindsayca Guyana Inc over soil stabilisation and delays, matters decided by an adjudication board in January 2025\. The settlement raised the contract by 12.8 per cent on its original US$759 million, about US$97 million, and both sides dropped their claims. In return the contractor committed to three dated milestones: first power by the end of 2026, all gas turbines by the first quarter of 2027, and combined-cycle operation by June 2027\. If those dates are missed, the government can reinstate the penalties it had agreed to drop. La Caribeña News reported the same release in August, for the figure it put on the whole Wales programme, in a piece on how Guyana [publishes what each solar farm costs and has not published what the power plant costs](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-publishes-what-each-solar-farm-costs-it-has-not-published-what-the-power-plant-costs/). ## What has the contractor asked for, and when? Four figures across two and a half years, and only one of them was ever settled. | When | The claim | How it entered the record | | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------- | | April 2024 | **US$90 million** in cost overruns, filed as arbitration | Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, at his weekly press conference | | April 2026 | **US$250 million** more, to finish by the end of 2026 | Kaieteur News, weeks before the settlement | | May 2026 | **Settled at about US$97 million**, with the three milestones | The Office of the Prime Minister | | 18 October 2026 | **US$102 million**, which the US Embassy is reported to be backing | Kaieteur News, citing sources | | 25 October 2026 | **US$120 million to US$170 million** | Kaieteur News, citing sources | The first figure is the one with a formal verdict attached, and it came from the government's own side. [Guyana Standard](https://www.guyanastandard.com/2024/04/11/ch4-lindsayca-wants-us90m-for-cost-overruns-on-gas-to-energy-project-vp-jagdeo-reveals/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) reported the Vice President telling his weekly press conference that Engineers India Limited, the project's supervisory entity, reviewed the US$90 million claim, found it lacking merit and rejected it. The Vice President also named where he said the delay came from, and it was not the contractor. "Exxon was responsible for the site preparation, the road, the MOF, that is the materials offloading facility and the laydown yard," he said. "We were supposed to hand over the site to the contractor by June, we did not hand over the site, that is Exxon did not hand over the site, until September, and it was still incomplete." The contractor on that preparation work, he said, was GYSBI. A claim rejected on a supervisor's review in 2024 is a different thing from a claim settled by an adjudication board in 2025\. Both happened, in that order, and the settled sum is close to the sum first rejected. ## What did the United States Ambassador say? That the ground was the problem, and that the deadline would be met. [Rio Times Online](https://www.riotimesonline.com/guyana-gas-to-energy-lindsayca-us102m-2026?ref=lacaribenanews.com) reported that in an interview with Kaieteur News, the US Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot, blamed the delays on poor ground at the site and said fixing it took eighteen months and more than US$100 million. She said the company expects to meet its year-end deadline. The interview's date was not given. The same report records that neither the US Embassy nor the Office of the President had published any response to the US$102 million report by 19 October, and that President Irfaan Ali said in September the contractor had asked for more money but that the request "has not been discussed." ## What does Kaieteur report now? A message to the government about Christmas, and a larger figure than any before it. [Kaieteur News](https://kaieteurnewsonline.com/2026/10/25/third-power-ship-expected-to-arrive-in-december/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) reported on 25 October, citing sources close to the discussions, that Lindsayca Guyana Inc has informed the Government of Guyana of its inability to deliver any electricity to the national grid for Christmas. One source told the paper the company "has reportedly run into severe financial shortfalls and admitted to the administration that they will not be able to deliver power by the end of the year." The paper put the additional request at US$120 million to US$170 million. The paper reported that the Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation, Deodat Indar, had not responded to it. None of that is corroborated. On a search of ten Guyanese outlets, no other publication carries the claim that the contractor cannot deliver, the figure, or the financial condition described. Unnamed sources describing a named company's finances are carried here as Kaieteur's reporting, not as established fact. What is established is the gap between the Ambassador's account on 18 October and the paper's account seven days later. ## What happens if the date is missed? The settlement answers that, and nobody has said whether the answer will be used. The penalties the government agreed to drop in May become available again if the milestones are missed. The companies' own 2024 filing put liquidated damages above US$11 million a month, which is the order of magnitude the clause deals in rather than a figure anyone has applied. The first milestone is first power, not full output. The government's stated aim has been 57 megawatts to the grid by December, against a 300 megawatt plant, and the resource ministry has separately described [Wales carrying 600 MW when the project under construction is 300](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-wales-600mw-gas-bharrat-mineral-inventory-2026/). ## What does this mean for a business planning around the date? That the saving was always conditional, and the condition is the third milestone rather than the first. A firm budgeting on cheaper electricity is not waiting for first power. It is waiting for combined-cycle operation, which the settlement puts at June 2027, and the Prime Minister has said [bills will not halve until the plant runs at full capacity](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-gas-to-energy-delay-gpl-losses-solar-2026/). First power in December, if it arrives, changes the schedule's first line and not the tariff. Two of the project's other components are also unpriced or contested. The pipeline that feeds the plant is the subject of a repair whose cost [Exxon has not stated, on an asset whose final cost it has never stated](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/exxon-gte-pipeline-repair-unstated-cost-guyana-cost-bank-2026/). And on the gas liquids storage and offloading facility, [Lindsayca priced two options, at US$537.1 million and US$493.4 million](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-ngl-facility-bids-lindsayca-china-camc-nptab-2026/). ## What is not established? Three things, and they matter to how the rest is read. The sourcing on the Christmas message, which is unnamed throughout. The standing of the US$120 million to US$170 million range, which could be a formal claim, an opening position or a characterisation by somebody close to talks. And the government's intention on the penalty clause, on which nothing has been published either way. The settlement itself is not in doubt. It was announced by the Office of the Prime Minister, it has a date, a percentage, a sum and three milestones, and the first of those milestones falls inside nine weeks. ### The entities - **Lindsayca Guyana Inc** is the contractor building the 300 MW power plant and the natural gas liquids plant at Wales, engaged with CH4 for US$759 million. - **Office of the Prime Minister** announced the May 2026 settlement that raised the contract and set the three milestones. - **Bharrat Jagdeo** is Guyana's Vice President, who disclosed the US$90 million arbitration claim at his weekly press conference in April 2024. - **Engineers India Limited (EIL)** is the project's supervisory entity, which reviewed the US$90 million claim and rejected it. - **GYSBI** is the contractor the Vice President named as having prepared the site for ExxonMobil. - **Nicole Theriot** is the United States Ambassador to Guyana, who attributed the delays to poor ground and said the company expects to meet its year-end deadline. - **Deodat Indar** is Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation, who Kaieteur News reported had not responded to it. - **Adjudication board** is the body that decided the soil stabilisation and delay disputes in January 2025, ahead of the May settlement. ### What the title card shows Every data point on the article's title card, in text. - **About US$97 million.** The increase to the contract under the May settlement, being 12.8 per cent of US$759 million. Source: Office of the Prime Minister, via Rio Times Online. - **US$759 million.** The original contract for the power plant and the natural gas liquids plant. Source: as above. - **12.8 per cent.** The percentage increase the settlement applied. Source: as above. - **End of 2026.** The first-power milestone the contractor committed to. Source: as above. - **June 2027.** The combined-cycle milestone, which is when full capacity is reached. Source: as above. - **US$90 million.** The 2024 arbitration claim, rejected on Engineers India Limited's review. Source: Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, via Guyana Standard. - **US$120 million to US$170 million.** The additional request reported on 25 October 2026, citing sources. Source: Kaieteur News. Uncorroborated. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What did Guyana's May 2026 settlement with Lindsayca contain? The Office of the Prime Minister announced on 14 May that it had settled two disputes over soil stabilisation and delays, decided by an adjudication board in January 2025, by raising the contract 12.8 per cent on its original US$759 million, about US$97 million. Both sides dropped their claims, and the contractor committed to first power by the end of 2026, all gas turbines by the first quarter of 2027 and combined-cycle operation by June 2027. ### Can Guyana still penalise the contractor? On the terms of the settlement, yes. The penalties the government agreed to drop become available again if the milestones are missed. Whether the government intends to use that provision has not been published. ### Has the contractor said it cannot deliver by December? Kaieteur News reported on 25 October 2026, citing sources close to the discussions, that Lindsayca had informed the government it could not deliver electricity to the grid for Christmas, and put a further request at US$120 million to US$170 million. No other Guyanese outlet carries those claims, and the company's financial condition as described rests on unnamed sources. A week earlier the US Ambassador said the company expects to meet its year-end deadline. ### When would electricity bills actually fall? Not at first power. The settlement puts combined-cycle operation at June 2027, and the Prime Minister has said bills will not halve until the plant runs at full capacity. First power is the first of three milestones. ### What was the earlier US$90 million claim? CH4-Lindsayca filed for arbitration in 2024 over cost overruns of US$90 million, which Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed at his weekly press conference. He said Engineers India Limited, the project's supervisory entity, reviewed the claim, found it lacking merit and rejected it, and he attributed the delay to the site being handed over late and incomplete.