Drilling of the Jaguar Well in the joint venture offshore concession commenced on February 7 and the managers of Tullow Oil, one of the major shareholders in the project, is counting on the company’s years of expertise in the exploration endeavour.
Tullow Oil Business and Exploration Manager in South America, John McKenna and Lead Geologist and Guyana Basin Team Leader, Sean Mulligan met President Donald Ramotar for the first time on Thursday. Noel Dennison from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) was also part of the meeting.

President Donald Ramotar in discussion with Tullow Oil Business and Exploration Manager in South America, John McKenna (second from right) and lead geologist and Guyana Basin Team Leader, Sean Mulligan (third from right) in the company of Natural Resources and Environment Minister Robert Persaud and Geology and Mines Commission Petroleum Unit head, Noel Dennison

The officials are in Guyana to meet with their partners, Repsol of Spain, CGX of Canada and YPF, used the occasion to enlighten the Guyanese head of state on the operations of Tullow Oil in Guyana and the region.
Save for the challenges experienced initially in the drilling process, McKenna told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that the operations are going well since the rig arrived and drilling started.
He is as optimistic about the prospects as the other licence holders; especially with the recent discovery in the Guyane Maritime permit approximately 150-kilomters offshore French Guiana in which Tullow Oil was integrally involved. The announcement was made in September last year.
The Jaguar Well drilling venture has a six-month timeline and McKenna is hopeful that it will be achieved without any difficulties. Tullow Oil, a London-based Company, YPF and CGX of Canada are the main partners in the Jaguar well joint venture drilling project, holding equity interests of 30 and 25 per cent respectively.
Guyana is the second most attractive underexplored basin in the world with a potential of 15.2 billion barrels of oil and were a discovery to be made, production targets would be estimated at 50 million barrels per year.
A London economist had noted that the United States geological survey records that the muddy waters of the Guyana/Suriname basin may hold more undiscovered oil than the reserves of the North Sea.