Oil and gas firms CGX Energy and Frontera Energy said on June 28 their joint venture (JV) has discovered oil at the Wei-1 well offshore Guyana.

Wei-1 is one of two wells on Guyana's Corentyne block that the companies had committed to drill. The other well, Kawa-1, struck light oil and gas condensate in May, last year.

The South American country jumped into the forefront of offshore oil exploration after a consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp. discovered billions of barrels of oil in the last decade. Guyana is now pursuing a multi-pronged strategy to lessen the consortium's grip on the country's oil resources.

The Frontera-CGX group is expected to be the next consortium to move oil exploration projects in Guyana to the development phase.

The companies said on June 28 that the samples from the well would be verified by an independent third-party laboratory over the next two to three months.

The JV also added that it has finished drilling operations and expects to release the rig in early July.