Guyanese group teams up with Nigerian oil company

Jun 03, 2026 News

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…to sign PSA soon with Govt.

(Kaieteur News) – A Guyanese women-led consortium that won an oil block while participating in the country’s first bid round is hoping to sign a Petroleum Exploration License and Production Sharing Agreement over the next few weeks with the government of Guyana (GoG).

This was revealed by principals of Sispro Inc.- Abbigale Loncke-Watson and Ayodele Dalgety-Dean on Tuesday, during an interview with the media at this year’s Local Content Summit, held at Four Points by Sheraton, Houston, East Bank Demerara.

Dalgety-Dean explained that the group has had negotiations with numerous operators but has finally found the right co-partner in the Nigerian oil company, Bono Energy.

That energy firm is currently producing about 2000-5000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in Nigeria, according to Executive Director of Bono Energy, Deji Fawole.

Chairperson of Sispro, Ayodele Dalgety-Dean pointed out that the consortium has ironed out all internal matters, relating to directorship that previously stalled the process from moving forward. “Abby and I are the principals of the company, she is company Secretary and I am Chairperson and I think there has been a little bit of confusion regarding the beneficial owners but that has been cleared up,” she added.

Meanwhile, Abbigale Loncke-Watson explained that the Beneficial Ownership information was registered since the company was first formed between the two women and their other partner, Dr. Melissa Varswyk.

Loncke Watson explained that the group is awaiting survey details from the government’s ongoing 3-D seismic study with its partner, with the operator finalizing other key details for the contract with the GoG. “Once that is finished, we are more or less ready to move forward, whether it’s on our own or a multi-client approach for the other block owners for the shallow water,” the businesswoman noted.

Sispro would be required to pay government a signature bonus of US$13.8 million for the shallow water block- S3. It will also be required to pay a fee for the seismic data, amounting to millions of US-dollars. As such, the group anticipated an initial investment of about US$150-US$200M.

Sispro Inc. initially comprised four women. The fourth partner, Dee George has since resigned as Director. The women-led consortium had won a shallow water and deepwater concession, S3 and D2, respectively.

Bono Energy said it intends to work with the group in developing both offshore blocks in Guyana.

The Executive Director of the Nigerian Company said, “We have funding to the tune of about US$600 million for both assets to startup with and we’re committed to the Local Content development in Guyana and to work with the ministry of energy (Natural Resources) in Guyana to develop the oil and gas upstream industry.”

He pointed out that a team from Nigeria flew into Georgetown to sign the agreements with the GoG. Immediately after signing those documents, he said the company intends to deliver the signing bonus to the country’s Natural Resource Fund (NRF) or the oil account.

“We believe there’s potential in the shallow water and in the deep water…based on the preliminary work that has been done I believe there is give or take about 300 million barrels of oil in it,” Fawole added.

The Nigerian company currently holds two assets in its home country which holds about six million barrels and potentially 400 million barrels of oil.

Govt. threatens to pull block

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat in a separate interview said if a favourable agreement is not reached soon, blocks won by companies in the previous auction could be included in a future bid round.

He told members of the media, “I wanted to sign this agreement a long time, because a local group of young Guyanese women would have been the forest group to sign a PSA…as soon as the company can basically fix whatever issues exists, we’re ready as a government.”

Bharrat said that government has been “very lenient” with the consortium, mainly because it is a local group. He however made it clear that the clock is running out in that regard.

“No, we can’t wait indefinitely, as you said. Um, we, at some point in time in the future, I don’t know, because I’m sure you’ll ask me a date but I don’t know when will be the next bid round as yet, but I can tell you, we will have another bid round. Um, so if agreements are not signed by then, more than likely that those blocks would be part of the bid round,” the minister said.

He also underscored the importance of connecting with the right operator that boasts experience, capacity and a solid financial record.

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• Abbigale Loncke, oil block, Petroleum Exploration License, PSA, Sispro Inc.

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