Orinduik Block may contain in excess of 1 billion barrels of oil – ECO

Several months after announcing plans to conduct a seismic survey on the Orinduik Block offshore Guyana, Eco Atlantic and its operating partner, Tullow Oil has now revealed that it has identified leads that could potentially contain in excess of 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
The companies said in a release on Wednesday that leads are up dip from the Liza discoveries located on the Stabroek Block and are currently being evaluated and matured to prospect status on recently acquired 3D survey data.
It said Gustavson Associates of Colorado has been contracted to provide independent interpretation services. And Total is now interpreting the first batch of the 3D survey data from the Orinduik Block, completed last year.
As per the option agreement with Total announced on September 26, 2017, delivery of the final processed data to Total will trigger a formal review period of up to 120 days.
During this period, Total will be given the option to determine whether to exercise its option to acquire a 25 per cent interest in the Orinduik Block from the Group. A further announcement will be released once the formal review period commences.
Director and Chief Operating Officer of Eco Atlantic, Colin Kinley, said it is an exciting time for Eco, and the company is being careful to ensure a comprehensive and conservative interpretation of the Orinduik data as it is being delivered.
“We have a great deal of faith in the quality of seismic data processing by PGS, whom we have used many times in the past. Tullow also has a team of leading industry experts who understand the play and are providing an excellent paced and thorough oversight of the data. We are sharing the data with Total now, who have worked on projects with Tullow in the past, as they have significant experience in this stage of the processing and interpretation. This will help the group define drilling targets.”
He stated further, “I was delighted that we were able to secure Gustavson as an independent team to work with us on Guyana. Gustavson have extensive expertise and knowledge of the region and will provide a CPR and NI-51-101 on the block as the interpretation matures. Drilling is expected to commence in late 2018 or early 2019 and the potential scale of this resource requires a detailed strategy and confident interpretation.”
Eco Atlantic (Guyana) Inc, a subsidiary of Eco Atlantic, holds a 40 per cent Working Interest in Orinduik, and Tullow, the Operator, holds the remaining 60 per cent.
The Orinduik Block is located up dip and just a few kilometers from Exxon’s recent Liza and Payara discoveries confirming, by Exxon’s estimates, in excess of 1.5 billion barrels of recoverable oil. The company and Tullow have completed the first phase of exploration, including evaluating all existing and regional 2D data.
Following the results of this study and the ongoing regional success, both parties had agreed to accelerate and significantly increase the originally proposed 1000km2 3D survey commitment on the block to circa 2550 kms2, thus covering the entire block area, fully overlapping current prospective 2D leads and downdip trends.