GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — Guyana’s Ambassador to Brazil, George Talbot says the Brazilian Army will be drilling several oil wells in the South Rupununi and the scoping of the area has already taken place.

The Rupununi is a region located to the south west of here, Guyana, bordering the Brazilian Amazon.

According to Talbot, the Brazilian authorities are in the process of preparing the framework under which such an activity will take place

Talbot says the complementary agreement to the Technical Cooperation Agreement that Guyana has with Brazil will be ready to be signed by the two countries to facilitate actions by Brazil in support of the project.

“The project will commence before the end of this year, with the target (being) the end of the current rainy season to begin works,” Talbot said during an interview with the Governments news agency.

He noted that during the works on the Brazilian side, counterparts on the Guyana side will be trained in drilling of the wells, operational procedures and well maintenance.

“The element of capacity training is very important on this project which makes more than just a single intervention of drilling and leaving and building of capacity so that in the future Guyanese will be able to perform the works.”

Meanwhile, a third meeting of the Administrative aspect of the Partial Scope Agreement with Brazil will take place next month.

He said under the agreement there are 180-odd items that Guyana can export duty free to Brazil, which are under-utilised on the Guyana side.

The Ambassador said that only 10 of the items are being exported on a consistent basis to Brazil.

He also said that there is a third party to the agreement which is St. Kitts and Nevis and the three countries will review the agreement to see how they can move forward on trade.

In relation to the International Transport Agreement which Guyana has with Brazil, the Ambassador said that Guyana is willing to do what is necessary to enforce the agreement and the country has been working closely with the relevant agencies and in the near future, the National Assembly will be able to take action.