Tullow to keep control of Orinduik licence until 2023

Oil and gas company Tullow Oil and its partners have renewed the petroleum agreement for the Orinduik block, located offshore Guyana, through to January 2023. The partnership is now working on high-grading candidates and will be selecting drilling targets later this year.

Tullow Oil is the operator of the block with Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas, Total, and Qatar Petroleum as partners.

Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas revealed on Monday that the joint venture partners in respect of the Orinduik Block have successfully entered into the First Renewal Period of the Orinduik Petroleum Prospecting Licence.

The agreement was initially signed on 14 January 2016. It was signed with the Government of Guyana, with the associated notice having now been approved and signed by the Department of Energy of the Government of Guyana (DOE).

Eco added that the DOE has also provided final approval for the transfer of the Total E&P Guyana 25 per cent working interest (WI) in the Orinduik Petroleum Agreement to a new company jointly owned by Total E&P Guyana (60 per cent) and Qatar Petroleum (40 per cent), namely TOQAP Guyana B.V. (TOQAP).

Accordingly, the JV Partners now comprise Eco Atlantic (15% WI), Tullow Guyana B.V. (operator, 60% WI), and TOQAP (25% WI).

The First Renewal Period sees the JV Partners maintain control of the licence through to 13 January 2023 and until the second renewal period.

Colin Kinley, COO and Co-Founder of Eco Atlantic commented: “As a group, the JV Partners continue with advanced reprocessing of the geophysical data, in combination with the additional information obtained from regional drilling results, and further evaluation of the Joe and Jethro discoveries”.

Jethro and Joe discoveries were both drilled in 2019, using the Stena Forth drillship.

Kinley added: “The partnership is focused on its multiple light sweet oil prospects on the Orinduik Block, and we are high-grading candidates for the next drilling program, with the operator expected to select targets later this year. We will update the market on further drilling plans in due course on our opportunity and prospects in this prolific oil basin”.