Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas touts prospects for light oil find at Orinduik

UK-based Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas has expressed optimism about the prospects for a major discovery at the Orinduik block offshore Guyana, noting that the eastern section of the licence area is very close to several fields within the neighbouring Stabroek block.

Eco, a minority shareholder in the Orinduik consortium, said last week in a report on its performance in the first nine months of 2021 that it was working with its partners to update the inventory of drilling targets and to choose exploration drilling sites. The consortium hopes to make a final selection and begin preparations for drilling in the near future, it stated. The partners are capable of drilling wells that target stacked or multiple target sections, and they have sufficient funding for their drilling plans, it added.

The British company did not identify any of the drilling sites under consideration. However, it did stress that the eastern section of Orinduik had the advantage of proximity to Liza, the first oilfield to come on stream at Stabroek. “Eco continues to firmly believe that Orinduik offers significant upside, with the eastern section of the block closer to the established Liza oil trend than any other block offshore Guyana,” it said.

Eco also pointed out that it had already made two oil discoveries within high-quality sandstone reservoirs at Orinduik – one in the Jethro-1 exploration well, which encountered 55 metres of net pay, and another in the Joe-1 well, which encountered 16 metres of net pay. Both Jethro and Joe have been deemed non-commercial, as they contain heavy oil, but the consortium is still hopeful of finding light crude, which will command higher prices.

Gil Holzman, Eco’s president and CEO, commented: “On our Orinduik block, we are close to finalising the drilling targets selection process and continue to see substantial prospectivity in the light oil Cretaceous section on the block ... The near-term will be exciting ... with ExxonMobil's Fangtooth-1 well, just north and down dip of Orinduik on the Stabroek block, testing some of the deeper sections [of the Guyana-Suriname basin].”

Eco has a 15% stake in the Orinduik block. The remaining equity in the project is split between operator Tullow Oil (UK/Ireland), with 60%; and TOQAP, a partnership established by TotalEnergies (France) and Qatar Petroleum, with 40%.