Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – A landmark bilateral energy partnership between the Dominican Republic and Guyana is moving forward, with a clear timeline set for the launch of long-awaited oil and gas exploration activities. Vickram Bharrat, Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources, has confirmed that the Dominican Republic has a six-month window to initiate exploration work on the 3,300-square-kilometer Berbice onshore block, with all on-site field operations scheduled to kick off no later than the end of 2026.
This collaborative energy project traces its roots back to a formal cooperation agreement signed by the two Caribbean nations in 2023, and it forms a core component of a broader regional strategy to bolster collective energy security across the Caribbean. Under the terms of the agreement, the Dominican Republic’s state-owned Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa) will secure a 10% equity stake in the exploration project without being required to contribute any upfront capital investment. In the event that commercially viable reserves of crude oil or natural gas are uncovered through exploration, the Dominican Republic will be granted exclusive preferential access to these hydrocarbon resources, helping to stabilize its domestic energy supply for years to come.
Beyond the initial exploration phase, the bilateral partnership lays the groundwork for a series of ambitious future strategic energy investments. Both sides have already outlined plans to evaluate additional projects, including the construction of a new regional oil refinery, a large-scale petrochemical complex, and other transformational energy infrastructure initiatives that could reshape energy trade and production across the region. The agreement marks a rare example of cross-border energy collaboration that balances economic opportunity for both nations, with Guyana leveraging international partnership to unlock its untapped onshore resource potential and the Dominican Republic securing a long-term path to more stable, affordable energy supplies.