Guyanese-owned SISPRO teams up with Nigeria’s Bono Energy for offshore exploration

Last Updated on Tuesday, 2 June 2026, 17:13 by Denis Chabrol

Guyanese-owned oil company, SISPRO, has partnered with Nigerian oil exploration and production company, Bono Energy, to explore for oil in one shallow and one deep-water offshore concession that could see an investment as much as US$600 million.

Bono Director, Deji Fawole and Head of Legal and Compliance, Leke Solanke are in Guyana for the signing of exploration agreements with the Ministry of Natural Resources in the coming days.

“We are in partnership with SISPRO to develop the shallow water and the deep-water blocks in Guyana and we have funding to the tune of about US$600 million for both assets to start up with and we’re committed to local content development in Guyana and to work with the Ministry of Natural Resources in Guyana to develop the oil and gas industry,” he told reporters.

Mr Fawole said the signing bonus would be just under US$14 million and would be paid within the stipulated 30 days.

The Bono Energy official said additional work would be done in the blocks, and his company would benefit from seismic data that would be gathered by the Guyana government. “We believe that there is potential in the shallow water and deep-water,” he said. Based on preliminary work, he said the shallow block contains an estimated 300 million barrels of oil.

SISPRO Company Secretary, Abbigail Loncke-Watson said initial investment could range between US$150 million and US$200 million.

Meanwhile, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat told reporters that if SISPRO did not resolve its internal issues, government could eventually rescind the oil blocks and add them to a future bid round. “If agreements are not signed by then, more than likely those blocks will be part of the bid round,” he said. 

Without providing details, he said SISPRO needed to resolve those issues. “I don’t want to speak on their internal issues …But they do have issues internally. Actually, government has been very lenient, as you know. We have been very lenient, mainly because this is a Guyanese company,” he said.

SISPRO Chairman Dr Ayodele Dalgety-Dean expressing brimming confidence that the company and government would sign the agreement in a “matter of weeks or imminently” .  Touching on the issues that had been facing her company, she said they had been centered on beneficial ownership. “I think there’s been a little bit of confusion with regards to the beneficial owners, but that’s all been cleared up,” she said.  The three beneficial owners, as registered in the Companies Register, are Dr Dalgety-Dean, Ms Loncke-Watson and Dr Melissa Varswyck, the Company Secretary said.

Dr Dalgety-Dean said hotelier Dee George was never a beneficial owner and she has since resigned as a director.