Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas expands activities in prolific regions offshore Guyana, South Africa
(WO) – Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd’s (“Eco”) wholly-owned subsidiary, Azinam Limited ("Azinam"), has received final government approval for the farm out of its 6.25% participating interest in Block 3B/4B, located offshore South Africa in the prolific Orange basin, to Africa Oil Corp. The company also provided an operational update on entering the next license phase for Orinduik block offshore Guyana, near ExxonMobil's Liza discovery and the Stabroek Block.
Orinduik license operational update. As Operator, Eco Orinduik BV gave notice to the Minister of Natural Resources of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana (“MNR”) to enter the second phase of the second renewal period of the Orinduik license. This second phase has a commitment to drill one exploration well to the Cretaceous formation during the remainder of the license period, which ends Jan. 2026.
Eco advised MNR last week that TOQAP Guyana B.V (the SPV joint entity held by TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy 60:40) has relinquished their 25% WI for strategic reasons and will not participate in the next phase. The former TOQAP Guyana B.V 25% WI will be assigned to Eco Guyana. Eco will remain the operator holding 40% WI in Orinduik license as Eco Guyana and 60% WI as Eco Orinduik BV.
Colin Kinley, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Eco Atlantic, commented, “Knowing the material value and potential of Orinduik Block, Eco acquired Tullow’s 60% WI and has remained focused on drilling a massive, stacked pay interval in the Southeastern quadrant of the block. Eco Atlantic, now the approved operator, intends to bring in new partners and to drill the significant potential of the Cretaceous interval on the Guyana oil fairway. With this well commitment, we now move into planning and engineering preparations to drill in next 12-18 months.”
We feel extremely positive about the future of the Orinduik block, receiving significant interest from key industry partners and IOCs in our recently commenced farm out process. We will provide further updates to shareholders on operational and farm out progress throughout the year,” Kinley added.
Final transaction approval. The South Africa Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (“DMRE”) and the Petroleum Agency South Africa (“PASA”) have now provided Section 11 approval to assign and transfer a 6.25% participating interest in Block 3B/4B, offshore South Africa to Africa Oil SA Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Africa Oil. The Section 11 approval was the final consent required to complete the transaction. All requisite regulatory approvals and deeds in respect of the transaction have now been signed and completed.
Eco has payment of $2.5 million from Africa Oil. Under the terms of the agreement, upon a further farm out to a third party into Block 3B/4B, Eco will receive another payment of $4 million from Africa Oil, and $1.5 million when the first well is spud.
Gil Holzman, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Eco Atlantic, commented, “With respect to Block 3B/4B, we are pleased to have received final approval from the South African Government for our transaction with Africa Oil, which now paves the way to completing a further farm out in respect of the Block and the drilling of our identified targets of up to five wells.”
Lead image: ExxonMobil's Liza 2 FPSO
