As of Tuesday, June 2, 2026, a landmark new energy partnership is poised to expand offshore oil exploration in Guyana, after locally-owned energy firm SISPRO announced a joint venture agreement with Nigerian exploration and production operator Bono Energy. The collaboration targets one shallow-water and one deep-water offshore concession, with total projected investment across both blocks reaching as high as $600 million U.S. dollars.
Senior leaders from Bono Energy, including Director Deji Fawole and Head of Legal and Compliance Leke Solanke, are currently in Georgetown to finalize exploration agreements with Guyana’s Ministry of Natural Resources, with formal signing expected in the coming days. Speaking to reporters on the ground, Fawole outlined the framework for the joint project, confirming the venture has secured full initial funding to launch operations across both concession blocks.
“We are aligned with SISPRO to advance development of both the shallow-water and deep-water blocks off Guyana’s coast, and we have committed up to $600 million in capital to kickstart this work,” Fawole stated. He added that Bono Energy is dedicated to upholding Guyana’s local content requirements, and will work closely with national authorities to grow the country’s emerging oil and gas sector. Fawole also confirmed that the required signing bonus for the concessions, totaling just under $14 million, will be transferred to the government within the 30-day timeline mandated by regulation.
Fawole noted that the venture will leverage new seismic data collected by the Guyana government to guide early exploration activities, and expressed strong confidence in the resource potential of both blocks. “Preliminary geological assessments already point to significant untapped potential across our shallow and deep-water concessions,” he said, adding that early estimates place recoverable oil reserves at approximately 300 million barrels in the shallow-water block alone. SISPRO Company Secretary Abbigail Loncke-Watson clarified that initial phase investment will fall between $150 million and $200 million, with additional funding allocated for subsequent exploration and appraisal work.
While the partnership moves toward final approval, Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat issued a public timeline for the agreement, warning that the government may revoke the concessions and reoffer them in a future competitive bidding round if SISPRO fails to resolve outstanding internal issues before the signing deadline. “If we do not have signed agreements in place by the required date, those blocks will almost certainly be added to the next bid round,” Bharrat told reporters. He declined to share specific details of the internal disputes, but noted that the government has already extended significant flexibility to SISPRO due to its status as a majority Guyanese-owned company. “We have been very lenient, primarily because this is a local firm,” Bharrat said.
For its part, SISPRO has moved to address the outstanding issues, which Chairman Dr. Ayodele Dalgety-Dean confirmed centered on confusion around the company’s beneficial ownership structure. Speaking to reporters, Dr. Dalgety-Dean expressed full confidence that the agreement would be finalized imminently, “within a matter of weeks.” She clarified that all ownership questions have now been resolved, with three officially registered beneficial owners: Dr. Dalgety-Dean, Ms. Loncke-Watson, and Dr. Melissa Varswyck. The chairman also pushed back against earlier rumors, confirming that local hotelier Dee George was never a beneficial owner of SISPRO, and has already stepped down from her position as a company director.