Tullow opens new oil play with second discovery offshore Guyana

Oil and gas company Tullow Oil has made a second oil discovery offshore Guyana. The Joe-1 exploration well has opened a new Upper Tertiary oil play in the Guyana basin.

Tullow started drilling at the Joe prospect in the Orinduik block offshore Guyana, the company’s second well in the block after the Jethro-1 well, in late August.

The Joe-1 exploration well was drilled by the Stena Forth drillship to a Total Depth of 2,175 meters in water depth of 780 meters, Tullow said on Monday.

According to the company, evaluation of logging and sampling data has confirmed that Joe-1 has encountered 14 meters of net oil pay in high-quality oil bearing sandstone reservoirs of Upper Tertiary age. Joe is the first oil discovery to be made in the Upper Tertiary and de-risks the petroleum system in the west of the Orinduik block, where a significant number of Tertiary and Cretaceous age prospects have been identified.

Tullow and its partners will now evaluate data from the Joe-1 discovery alongside data from the Jethro-1 discovery announced in August 2019 and await the outcome of the Carapa well to determine the optimal follow-on exploration and appraisal program.

Also in Guyana, the Repsol-operated Carapa-1 well on the Kanuku license (Tullow 37.5%) is scheduled to start drilling in late September with the Rowan EXL II jack-up rig and will test the Cretaceous oil play with a result due in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Joe-1 was drilled on the Orinduik license, offshore Guyana by Tullow’s wholly owned subsidiary Tullow Guyana B.V.

Tullow Guyana B.V. is the operator of the Orinduik block with a 60% stake. Total E&P Guyana B.V.  holds 25% with the remaining 15% being held by Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc.

On completion of operations, the Stena Forth drillship will depart Guyana and return to Ghana.

Angus McCoss, Exploration Director, commented: “I am very pleased that we have made back-to-back discoveries in Guyana and successfully opened a new, shallower play in the Upper Tertiary age of the Guyana basin with our second well. The Joe-1 discovery and its surrounding prospects represent another area of significant potential in the Orinduik Block and we are greatly looking forward to the next phase of the program as we continue to unlock the multi-billion barrel potential of this acreage.”

Colin Kinley, COO and Co-Founder of Eco Atlantic, commented: “The Joe-1 discovery has now opened up an additional play on the Orinduik Block that further defines the full potential for Eco and our partners in Guyana. Our initial interpretation, prior to drilling, defined over a dozen potential resource targets throughout the entire hydrocarbon section. We set a strategy to first focus on these shallower Tertiary plays as they have a huge positive effect on overall economics and allow a speedy path to production. Fast, low risk drilling to thick, clean, high porosity oil-bearing sands has decreased the drilling costs and greatly de-risks the development.

“This new discovery in the Upper Tertiary has opened a new play, the first Upper Tertiary discovery in Guyana, throughout our block, just as the Jethro-1 discovery did in the Lower Tertiary section. It has greatly increased our chance of success on our upcoming drilling targets and significantly de-risks other resource not previously considered in our interpretation.”

Gil Holzman, CEO and Co-Founder of Eco Atlantic, commented: “The Joe-1 discovery, only a month after the Jethro-1 discovery, is very material for us as it has proven that our theory of shallow low-cost plays exists in Guyana, as we are up-dip from the huge Exxon fields at Liza and Turbot areas, with good quality sands and oil that is clearly present on our block.”