Oil-rich Guyana in scramble to keep power on after Turkish contract expires
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Karpowership is a Turkish floating power plant operator that supplies approximately 96 megawatts to Guyana's national grid via two vessels — and after its contract expired on May 21, 2026, the company rejected the government's request for a 30-day extension, granting only a one-week grace period through June 1, 2026, while pressing for higher commercial rates that could add an estimated US$5.8 million annually to Guyana's energy bill.
Guyana's contract with Turkish floating power plant operator Karpowership — signed in 2024 as an emergency stopgap while the country's Wales Gas-to-Energy project was under development — expired on May 21, 2026, plunging the government into a high-stakes scramble to keep the lights on. The day after expiry, the Ministry of Public Works wrote to the company requesting a 30-day extension to allow time for proper negotiations. Karpowership flatly refused.
In a joint letter dated May 25, 2026 — signed by Beyza Özdemir, Americas Director of Commercial Operations for Karadeniz Powership Yasin Bey Company Limited, and Antonio Neto, Managing Director of partner company Urbacon Concessions Investments — the operators told Minister Deodat Indar they were "unable to accommodate a further thirty (30) days extension," granting only a one-week grace period expiring June 1, 2026. The letter made clear that any continuation of service would require revised commercial terms and "alignment and unification of the commercial terms and pricing structure across all country operations."
The two vessels at the centre of the dispute — a 36-megawatt powership docked in the Berbice River and a 60-megawatt vessel in the Demerara River — together supply approximately 96 megawatts to Guyana's national grid.
Former opposition minister David Patterson, citing figures reported by Kaieteur News, calculated that the proposed rate increase for the Berbice vessel alone — from US$0.076 to US$0.095 per kilowatt — would cost Guyanese taxpayers an additional US$5.8 million annually.
As of the time of reporting, supply remained uninterrupted while negotiations continued behind closed doors.
• Contract expired May 21, 2026; government requested 30-day extension the following day • Karpowership rejected 30-day request, granted only one-week grace period ending June 1, 2026 • Joint letter signed by Beyza Özdemir (Karpowership) and Antonio Neto (Urbacon), dated May 25, 2026 • Two vessels supply approximately 96 MW: 36 MW in Berbice River, 60 MW in Demerara River • Proposed rate increase for Berbice vessel: US$0.076 to US$0.095 per kilowatt • Calculated additional cost: approximately US$5.8 million more per year for Berbice vessel alone • Supply remained uninterrupted as negotiations continued, per Minister Indar • Government has not publicly disclosed specific commercial terms under negotiation
Oil-Rich Guyana’s Powership Cliff-Edge By The Numbers
Guyana's vulnerability in these negotiations illustrates the real-world cost of infrastructure delays: a project meant to end the country's electricity crisis by 2024 has instead deepened it.
With no immediate domestic alternative to the 96 MW supplied by the two powerships, the government is negotiating from a structurally weak position, and any upward revision to commercial terms will be borne by Guyanese taxpayers and consumers.
The situation also raises broader questions about energy sovereignty that resonate across the Caribbean, where small island and coastal states frequently depend on imported or contracted energy solutions.
"According to figures cited by former minister David Patterson and reported by Kaieteur News, the proposed rate increase for the Berbice River powership alone would add approximately US$5.8 million to Guyana's annual energy bill, raising the annual cost for that vessel to around US$28.78 million."
— Kaieteur News, citing former Minister David Patterson
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Government: negotiations ongoing, supply uninterrupted: Minister Indar confirmed the government is working to secure the best possible commercial rate and that the powerships are maintaining uninterrupted supply. He indicated no further details would be released until contractual negotiations between GPL and UCC JV with Karpowership are concluded, framing the process as acting in the public interest. "I would like to assure the public that the Government of Guyana is working in the best interests of the people of Guyana to get the best possible commercial rate for the renewal of the contract," Indar said.
Opposition: government's vulnerability reflects mismanagement and lack of transparency: Opposition parliamentarian Ganesh Mahipaul filed an urgent parliamentary question demanding disclosure of the additional payments sought and the government's contingency plans. Former minister Patterson argued the company is exploiting the government's dependence, calculating the proposed rate increase would cost taxpayers an additional roughly US$5.8 million annually for the Berbice vessel alone.
Expert: crisis reflects governance failure and threat to national sovereignty: Dr. Adams argued the situation represents a direct consequence of flawed procurement, delayed infrastructure delivery and a culture of limited public disclosure. He contended that no sovereign state should find itself unable to resist commercial pressure from a private foreign supplier over an essential public service, calling the episode a national embarrassment in Guyana's 60th year of independence.
"In normally run countries the government calls the shots and when it says jump, the contractor asks how high? The opposite takes place in Guyana."
— Dr. Vincent Adams, Energy expert, via Village Voice News
Guyana has oil. It shouldn't be begging a Turkish powership to keep the lights on — and yet here we are.
Guyana currently has the highest per capita economic growth in the world. It is also scrambling to stop its electricity supply from collapsing because a contract with a Turkish floating power plant operator expired and no one had a plan.
When the agreement with Karpowership expired on May 21, the government requested a 30-day extension. The company said no, granted one week, and made clear that any continuation would come at a higher price. Two vessels supplying 96 megawatts to the national grid are now the subject of closed-door negotiations whose terms the public has not been shown.
This is a Caribbean story as much as a Guyanese one. The pattern is familiar: an emergency energy contract entered into quickly, with limited oversight, that quietly becomes a structural dependency. The supplier gains leverage. The public absorbs the cost.
Cuba is the starkest warning — a country that nationalised its energy supply and still ended up in crisis, because ideology without investment is not a strategy. Decades of underinvestment in infrastructure, compounded by the loss of Venezuelan oil, have left Cubans enduring blackouts that have become a national emergency. State ownership did not protect them.
Jamaica is navigating its own reckoning, with the government in negotiations over the future of JPS that could reshape how the island powers itself for a generation.
Each situation is different. But the underlying failure is the same: energy planning often subordinated to short-term convenience and political calculation.
Guyana, uniquely, has no excuse. It has the oil, the revenue and the Gas-to-Energy project that was supposed to make the powerships redundant — now delayed again to the end of 2026.
The government must treat that deadline as a hard commitment, disclose the terms of any new Karpowership deal, and recognise that oil wealth does not insulate a country from the consequences of poor planning. It merely raises the embarrassment when things go wrong.
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