Partners in the Orinduik block located offshore Guyana have revealed their drilling plans for 2019.
Eco Atlantic, a partner in the Tullow-operated Orinduik block, said on Wednesday that all partners approved the initial 2019 work plan and budget for the first Orinduik exploration well on November 30, 2018.
Eco holds a 15% working interest in the block, Total – which recently acquired working interest from Eco – has 25% interest and the operator Tullow Oil holds the remaining 60%.
The initial budget is for drilling the Jethro-Lobe prospect which will be spud by the end of May – early June 2019. This will be the first well out of at least two well campaigns proposed by the operator in 2019.
Eco added that the partners approved the purchase of the necessary long lead items and were considering the proposals offered by drilling and service contractors who have offered a firm drilling window within the partners’ envisaged timeframe and competitive rates.
The company estimates that the approximate net cost to Eco of the first well, targeting the Jethro Lobe prospect, at up to $7.6 million. Eco is fully funded for the 2019 campaign having current cash of over $20 million.
The Jethro-Lobe prospect, which will be drilled from a conventional drillship, is an Upper Tertiary stratigraphically trapped canyon turbidite in approximately 1,350 meters of water.
The targeted prospect is estimated by Eco to hold 250mmbbl of gross prospective resources and the chance of success is estimated to be 44%.
Colin Kinley , COO of Eco Atlantic, said: “As announced by Tullow, there are a number of high-potential additional drilling candidates that are on the top of the interpretation list. The partners are currently evaluating the synergies of drilling a second well in this campaign and are assessing rig timing and budget to drill a second candidate.
“We have a great deal of confidence in the selection of the Jethro-Lobe drill candidate; the Partners are unanimous on the selection of the location, reservoir quality, charge and production characteristics, and view this candidate as having a high chance of success and potential for a first discovery.
“Our confidence was bolstered even further by the upgraded estimate of the discovered recoverable resource to over 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent on the Stabroek Block, as announced by ExxonMobil and Hess on December 3 . Further evaluation of previous discoveries in addition to the tenth discovery on the block, Pluma-1, contributed to the upgrade. Each successful well drilled on Stabroek lowers Eco’s risk on Orinduik.”