Oil blocks auction: Women-owned Guyanese company among 8 awarded oil blocks offshore Guyana

– VP Jagdeo says negotiations to start next week

The Guyana Government on Thursday announced the award of eight new oil blocks offshore Guyana, and among the successful bidders was a local company owned by four Guyanese women.

Following its launch in December 2022, the bidding round closed in September 2023 with six companies bidding on eight of the 14 blocks offshore that were up for grabs. In total, there were 14 offers made on those blocks.
On Thursday, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed that Cabinet earlier that day approved the awards of those eight oil blocks – two in deep water and six in shallow.
This was after the Evaluation Committee appointed by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), along with technical support from international consultants, evaluated the bids to assess those that satisfied the mandatory administrative and legal requirements contained in the bid document and were found to be eligible to progress to the next stage.
Among the notable awards was Sispro Inc, a Guyanese company owned by four women, which has received two oil blocks offshore Guyana – a shallow block (S3) and a deep-water block (D2).
Other shallow blocks were awarded to Total Energies EP Guyana BV in consortium with Qatar Energy International E&P LLC and Petronas E&P Overseas Ventures SDN BHD (Malaysia), which got Block S4; Liberty Petroleum Corporation of the US and Ghana-based Cybele Energy Limited, which got Block S7, and International Group Investment Inc. of Nigeria, which got two blocks – S5 and S10.
Another shallow block, S8, was awarded to the Stabroek Block partners – ExxonMobil Guyana Limited, Hess New Ventures Exploration Limited, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited.
The second deep-water block – D1 – was awarded to Delcorp Inc Guyana, which comprises Watad Energy and Communications Limited and Arabian Drilling Company of Saudi Arabia.
VP Jagdeo was in high praise for the local group – Sispro Inc, for securing two oil blocks in what he described as a “very competitive environment”.
“This is a very risky sector and I’m extremely pleased that the locals have been able to organize themselves to work with some foreign companies to put in the bids,” he noted.
With oil blocks having been awarded, the Vice President said the Government would now be moving to start contract negotiations with these companies as early as next week.
“Now that Cabinet has approved these awards, the [companies] will now be invited in, so that will determine the pace at which they can move the negotiations and the conclusions. Remember they would have to come verify their plans, show sources of financing, and show the ability to pay the signature bonus. So, they will be engaged next week,” Jagdeo stated.
Initially, the Government had said it wanted to conclude the negotiations so that the contracts could be signed before the end of the year.
But the Vice President explained on Thursday that while the Government still wanted this process to wrap up sooner rather than later, it would not rush through this stage.

According to Jagdeo, the timeline for these negotiations will be dependent on the company’s ability to move forward.
“In the discussions, we will know whether people are serious. So, assuming some companies said we need two years to sign this agreement, then clearly we can’t go with that… I would assume that they all want to do this swiftly,” he posited.
Jagdeo pointed out, “I don’t want to put pressure on our people [with] an artificial timeline. They need to do proper due diligence. They may need to make sure that the Government’s interests are taken care of, so our lawyers and others [like the consultants] would be addressing this… We want to do a good job. Time is not the issue here, it is about doing a good job – making sure the due diligence is done, and the proper contracts are signed. We’re not rushing, we’re not running a sprint here, so if it takes one month in some cases and three months in other cases for other people, that’s fine with us provided there is a good job done.”
Meanwhile, the Vice President is also cognisant that some of these negotiations may not be fruitful.
Last week, ExxonMobil said it would not sign the new Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) in its current form, citing concerns about the stringent terms and conditions, specifically, the timeframe set for the aggressive work programme as well as the time periods for relinquishment.
But the Guyana Government has already insisted it would not weaken these new features to suit the US oil major – a position Jagdeo reiterated during Thursday’s press conference.
“We said we are not going to change the major planks in the PSA dealing with transparency and accountability. We’re open in the negotiations with all of these companies to minor changes in the PSA, but we’re not touching the fiscal terms.”
“We may have a situation where we may not be able to finalise with everyone, because, as you heard ExxonMobil said they’re not prepared to sign with the PSA, as it’s currently structured, saying it’s too stringent and you’ve heard our public position on that. If their demands are extreme, then we will simply not proceed with the signing in that regard,” Jagdeo declared.
Nevertheless, the Vice President indicated that if the negotiations with any of these companies fall through, then in cases where there was a second bidder, the Government would move ahead with that company. (G8)