Eco, partners get more time for offshore work in Namibia

Eco Atlantic has been granted a one-year extension for its offshore “Tamar” Block in Namibia.

The one-year extension – until March 20, 2019, was granted to Eco and its partners, Spectrum, and NAMCOR, in recognition of completion of the necessary work in PEL50 license committed in this period on the Tamar Block.

Over the remainder of the extension period, the Eco said it would continue to progress the exploration programme to better understand the resources indicated from the previous 2D seismic work and give a clearer indication for delineating further geophysical work over the selected leads on the Block.

Eco and its partners intend to serve notice to progress into the Second Renewal Period for PEL50 in March 2019 and will then have an additional two years with the option of a further one-year extension to complete 3D and to progress towards a well if the partners decide to do so.

Gil Holzman, Chief Executive Officer of Eco Atlantic, said: “We are delighted by the Ministry’s continued support of our progress made on PEL50, and the other Blocks in the Basin, and its confidence in our ability to further enhance the area’s prospectivity through our exploration efforts.

“We are seeing an ever-increasing interest in the Walvis Basin in general from many industry players, oil majors and independent E&P companies alike, and specifically in the Tamar Block. This Block is directly to the west and adjacent of the PEL71 where Chariot and Azinam are about to drill the Prospect S target in October 2018.

“Eco has made significant progress on all our four blocks in the Basin. With both our own technical team and with support from our partners at Namcor, Azinam, and Tullow, we have advanced the entire geotechnical understanding of the region, the understanding of the depositional environment, and the focus on specific areas for hydrocarbons prospectivity throughout the basin and on our four blocks: PEL50 (Tamar Block) PEL34 (Guy Block), PEL33 (Sharon Block), and PEL30 (Cooper Block).

“The planned drilling of the exploration wells on PEL37 and PEL71 this coming September and October has considerably driven up interest in Namibia. The recent entrance of Exxon into the center of our four blocks and with the entrance of ONGC and other majors still pushing to enter Namibia, we are confident in further exploration and corporate activity in the region that will continue building value to our shareholders and partners.”