FURTHER drilling in the Orinduik block is expected to take place within the next two years as the Joint Venture (JV) partners in the area have agreed to enter into the First Renewal Period of the Orinduik Petroleum Agreement.

On Monday, Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd. Announced that itself, along with its JV partners – Tullow Guyana B.V. and Total E&P Guyana B.V. – have opted to enter into the next exploration phase and this was relayed to the Department of Energy.

The Orinduik Petroleum Agreement, signed with the government on January 14, 2016, in its initial period of four years, required the completion of geological and geophysical evaluation of the contract area based on seismic data gathered and acquisition of a minimum of 1,000 sq.km of 3D seismic. At the end of the period, the option was given for the JV partners to relinquish the entire contract area or renew the Petroleum Prospecting License for a three-year period.

“We are very pleased that the JV Partners have unanimously elected to enter into the next phase of exploration and development at the Orinduik Block. We have met and exceeded all of the licence commitments to date and stand ready to further appraise and explore the significant hydrocarbon potential of the Orinduik Block licence, both in the proven discoveries of the tertiary layer and in the deeper cretaceous layer, estimated to hold an additional 3.2 billion barrels of oil (gross un-risked prospective (P50) resource) according to the CPR resource report published in March 2019,” President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Eco Atlantic, Gil Holzman said.

According to the release, the First Renewal Period is expected to begin on January 14, 2020 and run up to the second renewal period on January 13, 2023. The work completed thus far by the JV Partners on the Orinduik Block including the completion of a 2,550 km2 3D seismic programme in 2017 and the drilling of two exploration wells with discoveries at Jethro-one and Joe-one.

In November, Eco Atlantic stated that initial analysis of the oil discovered in the wells had shown that the finds are heavy crude with high sulphur content unlike the preferred light, low sulfur crude found in the Liza field. While the finds in the Liza field allows for the highest value petroleum products to be derived, Eco Atlantic, which holds a 15 per cent working interest in the 1,800 km2 Orinduik Block, stated that the company “remains optimistic”.

Eco’s Joint Venture (JV) partner Total holds a 25 per cent working interest while its other partner, Tullow holds 60 per cent.