Eco Atlantic Oil and Gas has successfully upped its participating interest share in Block 3B/4B offshore South Africa by 6.25%.
The company in an announcement on Monday said it received all the requisite regulatory approvals from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy of South Africa and the Petroleum Agency of South Africa.
Eco through its subsidiary Azinam Limited will now hold a 26.25% participating interest in the block with operator Africa Oil Corp. holding 20% and Ricocure holding the remaining 53.75%.
Block 3B/4B, is located between 120-250 kilometers (kms) offshore South Africa in the Orange Basin directly south of the prolific multi billion barrels discoveries offshore Namibia announced earlier this year by Shell (Graff-1) and TotalEnergies (Venus-1). The 3B/4B Block covers an area of ~17,581km² and lies in water depths ranging from 300-2500 meters (m).
President and Chief Executive Officer of Eco Atlantic, Gil Holzman noted that Block 3B/4B look to be “a very exciting licence” for all the partners involved. After completing a full reprocessing of the 3D data on the Block, Holzman said that Eco remains upbeat about the prospectivity of the licence.
“…and following the significant oil discoveries, Venus and Graff, made earlier in the year offshore Namibia Orange Basin, and we are pleased to be strengthening our working relationship with Ricocure and Africa Oil Corp,” he added.
These two breakthrough discoveries off the Namibia coast have turned the Orange basin into Africa’s newest exploration hotspot.
“We are seeing growing industry interest in the entire Orange Basin, and in Block 3B/4B, and as announced last month, a collaborative farm-out process (of up to a 55% working interest) is underway,” Holzman continued.
Eco is also planning a drill campaign for 2023 in Block 3B/4B.
Eco Atlantic has a 15 percent working interest in the Orinduik Block offshore Guyana, near the Stabroek block where 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources were found since 2015.
