Guyana Says Its Gas Pipeline Cannot Leak. It Has No Gas In It
Energy
Key Facts
—The claim. Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed said the $1bn subsea gas pipeline had ruptured, citing footage of water bubbling near an anchored vessel.
—The denial. The environmental agency and the maritime administration said there is no factual basis, because no gas is flowing through the line.
—The concession. The same agencies confirmed a probe found something irregular in the twelve-inch pipeline, called it thoroughly investigated, and gave no outcome.
—The silence. The environmental agency’s head and spokespeople for both agencies and for ExxonMobil did not answer questions.
—The timing. ExxonMobil began a scheduled three-month inspection of the line on May 27, using five vessels. It runs to August 15.
—The stake. The line feeds a 300-megawatt plant at Wales that the government says will halve household electricity bills.
Two Guyanese agencies rejected the claim that the Guyana gas pipeline had ruptured. Read their statement closely and it does not say the pipe is undamaged.
On Wednesday the leader of the opposition, Azruddin Mohamed, said the billion-dollar line running from ExxonMobil’s offshore Liza field to the coast had ruptured. He pointed to still images and video of the Atlantic bubbling near a utility vessel anchored a couple of miles off Georgetown.
The natural resources minister, Vickram Bharrat, denied it that night. The next day the Environmental Protection Agency and the Maritime Administration Department issued a joint statement.
What the Guyana gas pipeline statement actually says
Both agencies stated unequivocally that there is no factual basis for the claims. Their reasoning followed immediately: the pipeline is not currently active, and no gas is flowing through it.
Since no gas passes through the line, they wrote, there can be no leak or damage of the nature suggested. That sentence is worth sitting with.
A pipeline containing no gas cannot leak gas. It cannot leak gas whether it is perfectly intact or split open along its length.
The denial is therefore true and it is also not an answer to the question. Nobody asked whether gas was escaping; the question was whether the pipe is damaged.
Then the agencies confirmed an anomaly
Roughly a day after the opposition raised the alarm, the government said further inspections of a small anomaly were underway. The two agencies confirmed a report had been received and that a probe revealed something irregular or abnormal in the twelve-inch pipeline.
The anomaly, they said, was thoroughly investigated. They provided no information about what the investigation found.
The head of the environmental agency did not respond to queries. Neither did spokespeople for the maritime administration, the environmental agency, or ExxonMobil Guyana.
An ExxonMobil spokesman said later that the company would share information as soon as it had any it could share. Both agencies urged the public to verify facts through official channels before drawing conclusions.
What the Guyana gas pipeline is for
The line carries gas from the Liza field in the Stabroek block to a landing point on the West Coast of Demerara, then overland to Wales on the west bank of the river. ExxonMobil finished it in December 2024.
At Wales the government is still building a three hundred megawatt power station and a natural gas liquids plant. ExxonMobil Guyana’s president has put the cost of the pipeline and its ancillary infrastructure at a billion dollars.
Until the plant is ready the line sits filled with nitrogen, an inert gas, which is why it carries no natural gas today. A disaster response expert told the Guyanese outlet that first reported the story he was not aware of any damage.
The inspection now under way is not a response to Mohamed. ExxonMobil began a scheduled three-month survey of the subsea line on the twenty-seventh of May, announced in a public notice, using five vessels and running until the fifteenth of August.
One detail cuts both ways. The vessel Mohamed filmed, the Telesto, is itself among the five working the inspection, so bubbling water beside it is as consistent with survey work as with a breach.
Why Guyanese households are watching
Guyana pays some of the highest electricity prices in the region, generated by burning imported heavy fuel oil. The Wales project is the government’s answer, promising to roughly halve bills and more than double generating capacity.
It is already late. The original completion target was the end of 2024, then the middle of this year, and one of the two American contractors building the plant walked away from the partnership last July.
This newspaper reported two days ago that the transmission network is ninety-nine percent complete, with the first turbine due before the year ends. A pipeline problem would be the one piece nobody has budgeted for.
Neither the government nor ExxonMobil has said the pipe is damaged, and nothing in the public record establishes that it is. What the record does establish is an anomaly, an investigation, and no published finding.
Has the pipeline ruptured?
Nothing in the public record establishes that it has, and both the environmental agency and the maritime administration reject the claim. Their stated reason is that no gas flows through the line, which rules out a gas leak but does not by itself address whether the pipe is physically damaged.
What is the anomaly the agencies mentioned?
They confirmed that a probe found something irregular or abnormal in the twelve-inch pipeline, described it as thoroughly investigated, and said further inspections were under way. No outcome has been published, and officials from both agencies and from ExxonMobil did not answer questions about it.
Does this delay cheaper electricity?
It is too early to say, because no finding has been released. The Wales power station and gas liquids plant were already behind schedule, having missed an end of 2024 target and then a mid-2026 one, while the transmission network that carries the power is reported at ninety-nine percent complete.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Guyana's government confirm or deny that the subsea gas pipeline ruptured?
Two Guyanese agencies — the environmental agency and the maritime administration — denied there was a rupture, stating there is no factual basis for the claim because no gas is currently flowing through the line. However, the same agencies confirmed that a probe found something irregular in the twelve-inch pipeline, without disclosing the outcome of the investigation.
What evidence did Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed present to support his rupture claim?
Azruddin Mohamed pointed to still images and video footage showing the Atlantic Ocean bubbling near a utility vessel anchored a couple of miles off Georgetown. He cited this as evidence that the $1 billion subsea gas pipeline had ruptured.
Why is the Guyana gas pipeline considered significant?
The pipeline runs from ExxonMobil's offshore Liza field to the coast and feeds a 300-megawatt power plant at Wales. The government states the plant will halve household electricity bills for Guyanese residents.
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