Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas, Gil Holzman said there are nine companies vying to farm into the Orinduik Block.
“We are planning to finalise this process hopefully in the next couple of months. Depends on the level of interest in the potential commercial terms that we can achieve, and that will open the door for the next well for us in Guyana, targeting light oil in the Cretaceous,” Holzman said during the company’s Investor Update on Mar. 13.
Eco is currently the operator and sole stakeholder of the block through two subsidiaries. Tullow Oil, TotalEnergies, and QatarEnergy recently exited.
Two discoveries were made at the block in 2019 – Jethro and Joe – back when Tullow Oil was the operator. Holzman reminded that the finds were heavy oil, with API of 13-18. He said these finds can be developed by the right partner.
Golzman commented: “There is a very big need for heavy oil in the Gulf of Mexico refineries and elsewhere. You know, companies like Petrobras, Exxon and others… they need heavy oil for their refineries.”
The Eco said studies done with third parties like Wood Mackenzie indicated that there is enough oil at Jethro and Joe to make development profitable. He said there may even be room to “combine” them in a development with discoveries made in the Stabroek Block.
Otherwise, Eco said it has identified two drill targets in the Orinduik Block to be spud in 12-18 months.
“Both are stacked pay targets that can hold over 700 million barrels in total,” Holzman stated.
An image presented during the update indicated the targets, which reside in the same zone as Exxon’s Liza discoveries, are called Kumaka and Iatuk. Holzman said environmental approval has already been granted for exploration drilling.
