…Govt. tightlipped on US$170M more requested
…as company splurges on sponsorships for Energy Week, golf tournaments in Venezuela
(Kaieteur News) – Lindsayca Guyana Inc., the Houston-based engineering firm tasked with developing Phase One of the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project at Wales, West Bank Demerara is quickly running out of money to finance the completion of the venture, raising questions over the contractor’s likelihood of delivering electricity to the national grid by the end of this year, as promised, again.

Sources close to the project and in government told this newspaper that the contractor is set to exhaust its funding by the end of September and has requested more than US$100M more to help fund the delayed works. Company documents seen by Kaieteur News confirm that Lindsayca has requested about US$170M more from the Government of Guyana (GoG) to complete the energy project, a 22% increase in its initial contract sum of US$759M.

Lindsayca reportedly runs out of money to complete Wales Gas-to-Energy project
A recent aerial view of the GTE worksite at Wales. The project is expected to deliver electricity by the end of this year.

In its Annual report for the year ended December 2024, Lindsayca stated, “negotiations with the Government of Guyana for a significant contract price adjustment are at an advanced stage, providing strong evidence of the Group’s ability to continue to meet its commitments.”

Kaieteur News reached out to Head of the GTE Taskforce, Winston Brassington five months ago for confirmation on the additional resources requested by Lindsayca but did not receive a response. Prime Minister, Mark Phillips who is responsible for managing the project also did not respond to questions on the matter sent last week.

In the meantime, this newspaper has been informed that state officials are now quietly restructuring payments to cover the massive financial shortfall. According to sources, “To keep construction moving and avert a work stoppage, Winston Brassington has repeatedly lobbied Senior Minister of Finance Ashni Singh to advance milestone payments in favour of Lindsayca, altering the contract’s original financial schedule.”

It was explained that earlier this year, Brassington privately met with executives from ExxonMobil Corp and proposed a change to the contract to allow more money to flow into Lindsayca’s bank account.

The proposal suggests “shifting the fixed-price engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract to a “cost-plus” arrangement to ensure the works remained funded.” Moreover, several sources said that Brassington is now advocating for Phase Two of the GTE project to be awarded to Lindsayca, a manoeuvre designed to absorb and obscure the $170 million shortfall from the first phase.

Kaieteur News previously reported on the lavish travel expenses being incurred by the company as the project faces severe budget overruns and timeline delays, costing Guyanese more to rent electricity from two powerships.

But while the contractor struggles to complete the gas project in Guyana on time and on budget, Kaieteur News discovered that the company with roots in Venezuela has been doling out cash as a key sponsor of major events, ranging from energy conferences to sporting tournaments.

Lindsayca grabbed the US$759M GTE deal from Guyana under the guise of an American firm and was backed by fierce diplomatic advocacy from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Lindsayca’s executive focus and philanthropic capital are overwhelmingly directed toward Venezuelan activities today.

This newspaper found millions of dollars deployed into high-visibility corporate sponsorships by Lindsayca. The firm serves as a primary corporate sponsor for Venezuelan PGA Tour golfer Jhonattan Vegas and acts as a key financial backer of domestic golf tournaments like the XLI Abierto de Venezuela, aligning its brand alongside American oil giant, Chevron. Lindsayca also funds cultural preservation through El Sistema Texas and channels disaster diplomacy via the CAF Recovery and Reconstruction Fund.

Furthermore, the contractor bankrolls exclusive, closed-door business-to-business energy conferences, serving as a Diamond+ Sponsor for Venezuela Energy Week (VEW) and a Principal Partner for the Venezuela International Oil & Gas Summit (VIOGS) in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.

Critics and industry observers argue these noble causes serve as strategic brand washing. Financial analysts reviewing the project’s cash flow have raised concerns that the continuous advancement of milestone payments effectively siphons Guyanese sovereign wealth to endorse a Venezuelan contractor disguised under a U.S. flag.

Our sources explained, “The strategy utilizes Guyanese state funds to finance international public relations and corporate diplomacy, all while the foundational infrastructure project in Georgetown runs dry amid a bitter international arbitration dispute over site delays.”

The looming September insolvency raises fundamental legal and administrative questions regarding Lindsayca’s eligibility to bid on further Guyanese infrastructure tenders, including Phase Two of the GTE project at Wales.

The firm previously faced allegations of corporate fraud and underperformance in an $8.7 million dispute with Gazprom regarding a natural gas compression plant in Venezuela. Further complicating the firm’s compliance profile, Ruben Figuera, Lindsayca’s current Project Director for the Wales GTE project and a former high-ranking PDVSA official, was snared in a money laundering and bribery probe in Andorra, where authorities froze $5.3 million linked to illicit Venezuelan state contracts.

Under standard public procurement frameworks, companies facing severe operational shortfalls or demonstrating a persistent failure to execute fixed-price contracts are typically barred from securing subsequent state awards without a formal curing of existing defaults and a rigorous audit of deployed capital.

Original link posted by Kaieteur News on September 06, 2026