Oil & gas firm seeks new partners for ‘high-value play’ after getting thumbs-up for Tullow Guyana acquisition

AIM-listed and Canada-headquartered oil and gas company Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas is embarking on a search for new partners, after expanding its interest in a block offshore Guyana, thanks to the green light for the acquisition of Tullow Oil’s entire interest in Tullow Guyana (TGBV), which includes the Orinduik license and operatorship of the block.

Back in August 2023, Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas disclosed the signing of a sale purchase agreement, enabling its wholly owned subsidiary, Eco Guyana Oil and Gas (Barbados) Limited, to acquire a 60% operated interest in Orinduik Block, offshore Guyana, through the acquisition of Tullow Guyana in exchange for a combination of upfront $700,000 cash and contingent consideration. The approval for the transfer of this working interest and operatorship has now been received from Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources. 

Colin Kinley, Co-founder and COO of Eco Atlantic, commented: “We are very happy to have support from the Minister of Natural Resources and the government of Guyana and their approval to transfer 60% of the working interest and operatorship of the Orinduik Block to Eco. We have always been very involved with the exploration and interpretation of the block, and our experienced team will step directly into operatorship to finalize target selection.

“After nearly 10 years of exploration and interpretation, and multiple regional discoveries at the Cretaceous level of close to 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil, our team has a good understanding of the Cretaceous play and we have a great deal of confidence in drilling our first well, targeting a stacked pay target in this well-proven horizon. This transaction structure allows Tullow to continue to share upside in a discovery.”

Upon the completion of the transaction, Eco will become the operator and hold an aggregate 75% participating interest in the Orinduik Block, via subsidiary Eco Orinduik following a scheduled name change, which will hold a 60% operated interest while Eco (Atlantic) Guyana will have a 15% participating interest. In addition, TOQAP Guyana will continue to hold a participating interest of 25%. According to the company, the completion of the transaction is expected before year-end 2023. 

“Eco now seeks qualified partners in this high-value play and has commenced a formal farm-out process for the block. Recent interest from supermajors and other well-capitalized energy companies in the latest licensing bid round in Guyana, for blocks up-dip of us, supports our thesis of the oil migration and the high quality and charged reservoirs we see on our block,” outlined Kinley.

The Orinduik Block is situated in shallow water (70 – 1,400 m), 170 km offshore Guyana. This block is located 11 km up-dip from ExxonMobil’s Liza discovery and 6 km up-dip from Hammerhead discovery on the Stabroek Block.