The government of Guyana has granted an extension to the term of the Tullow Oil-operated Orinduik offshore block that will see the block partners maintain control of the block until 2023.
According to Eco Atlantic, Tullow Oil's partner in the offshore block, the joint venture partners in respect of the Orinduik Block offshore Guyana have successfully entered into the "First Renewal Period" of the Orinduik Petroleum Prospecting License originally signed on January 14, 2016.
The Department of Energy of the Government of Guyana has also provided final approval for the transfer of the Total E&P Guyana B.V. 25% working interest ("WI") in the Orinduik Petroleum Agreement to a new company jointly owned by Total E&P Guyana B.V. (60%) and Qatar Petroleum (40%), namely TOQAP Guyana B.V. ("TOQAP").
Accordingly, the JV Partners now comprise Eco Atlantic (15% WI), Tullow Guyana B.V. (Operator, 60% WI) and TOQAP (25% WI). "The First Renewal Period sees the JV Partners maintain control of the licence through to 13 January 2023 and until the second renewal period," Eco Atlantic said.
Colin Kinley, COO, and Co-Founder of Eco Atlantic said: "We very much appreciate the Government of Guyana's continued support of our exploration and expanding partnership on the Orinduik Block. As a group, the JV Partners continue with advanced reprocessing of the geophysical data, in combination with the additional information obtained from regional drilling results, and further evaluation of the Joe and Jethro discoveries.
"The partnership is focused on its multiple light sweet oil prospects on the Orinduik Block, and we are high-grading candidates for the next drilling program, with the Operator expected to select targets later this year. We will update the market on further drilling plans in due course on our opportunity and prospects in this prolific oil basin."
Tullow Oil and partners in 2019 made two oil discoveries at the Jethro and Joe wells at Orinduik, however, it later turned out two discoveries contained heavy oil with high sulfur percentage.
In early 2020, Gustavson Associates, an independent third-party auditor, estimated that that Orinduik Block could hold 5,1 billion barrels of oil equivalent in Gross Prospective Resources, best estimate. This was more than a billion-barrel increase from the previous estimate of Gross Prospective Resources of 3,981 MMBOE in March 2019, for the 1800km2 block sitting 170 km offshore Guyana in the Suriname Guyana basin.
Norwegian energy intelligence group Rystad Energy on Friday released a report in which it said that the year 2021 would be a record one when it comes to offshore drilling in Guyana, with an annual record of 16 wells expected.
This, however, will mostly be led by oil major ExxonMobil, with no drilling plans reported for this year as yet on Tullow Oil’s Orinduik block.