Drilling at Orinduik Block could be pushed to 2021
The Upper and lower cretaceous and tertiary of the Orinduik block and partially Stabroek block
The Upper and lower cretaceous and tertiary of the Orinduik block and partially Stabroek block

– as companies seek to further understand geological make-up of area

THE need to better understand the geology of the Orinduik Block offshore Guyana could push the drilling program by Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd. and its Joint Venture (JV) partners from 2020 to 2021.

In its unaudited results for the period ended 31 December 2019, and its corporate and operational update published on Wednesday, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eco Atlantic, Gil Holzman disclosed the same.

“While it is Eco’s intention, and there remains the potential to conduct a drilling programme later this year, the need to integrate the new data learned from recent discoveries in the region into our understanding of the Block’s geology may result in further drilling and appraisal activity taking place in H1 2021,” Holzman said.

The possible delay comes as the block Operator, Tullow Oil plc (Tullow) has proposed a further fine-tuning analysis of the upper cretaceous reservoirs and plans to incorporate the Carapa well data into Orinduik’s existing geological models and technical analysis over the coming period.

President and Chief Executive Officer of Eco Atlantic, Gil Holzman

On January 2, 2020, Tullow announced an oil discovery in the Kanuku Block offshore Guyana at the Carapa-1 Well but the find was below the company’s pre-drill estimates.
The Carapa prospect was initially estimated as a 200-million-barrel cretaceous target but the well drilled encountered approximately four metres of “good quality oil”. The partners also plan to integrate the discoveries at the Jethro and Joe wells with the Carapa discovery.
The initial analysis of the oil discovered in the Jethro-1 well and the Joe-1 well in the Orinduik block has shown that the finds are heavy crudes with high sulphur content. According to the Operators, the oil tested to date is similar to the commercial heavy crudes currently in production in the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, the Campos Basin in Brazil, Venezuela and Angola.

The Company has now engaged a third-party consultant with heavy oil development and economics expertise for preliminary evaluations related to production schemes and commercialisation.

“Technical and commercial evaluation work is ongoing and the Company is considering alternatives for further drilling and testing and a number of development scenarios and production alternatives. The Company remains optimistic in considering the development scenarios and, as the project progresses, will provide further information on plans and timing,” the report stated.

The data will be incorporated into a reprocessing of the 3D seismic already shot on Orinduik with the intent of providing further definition to the Cretaceous interpretation and target selection for drilling.

Meanwhile, geological modelling, prospects maturation and target selection on the block are ongoing, and the JV Partners are working closely to agree on the best work programme to further explore the prospectivity of the licence. Multiple prospects are being reviewed with high-graded candidates under consideration for the next drilling programme. The report stated: “Eco is fully funded and is pushing to drill a minimum of at least one upper Cretaceous target as soon as practically possible for its partners. Consideration is being given to prioritise a stacked multi-target well.”

As recent as February 3, 2020, the Company announced the filing of a National Instrument 51-101 compliant resource report on the Orinduik Block. This saw the raising of oil estimates in the Orinduik block from 3.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE) to over 5.1 MMBOE, representing a 29 per cent increase in Gross Prospective Resources.

Meanwhile, 22 prospects were identified in the block including 11 leads in the Upper Cretaceous horizon. Leads in the Tertiary aged section are estimated to contain 1.2 MMBOE and Leads in the Cretaceous section are estimated to contain approximately 3.9 MMBOE. It was reported that the majority of the project leads have over a 30 per cent or better chance of success, enhanced by the recent discovery of “light oil” in the Carapa 1 well on the Kanuku block to the south of Orinduik. The Orinduik JV partners are Eco Atlantic with 15 per cent working interest; Tullow Guyana B.V. (Operator) with 60 per cent working interest and Total E&P Guyana B.V. with 25 per cent working interest.

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