Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas welcomes endorsement for Cooper oil block in Nambia

Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas Ltd’s (LON:ECO) has received a further endorsement for its portfolio of oil assets after the overseas arm of India state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) said it would buy a 15% stake in the Cooper Block in Nambia.

ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), a division of ONGC, said its indirect subsidiary ONGC Videsh Vankorneft Pte Ltd (OVVL) has signed binding agreements with Tullow Namibia Ltd to acquire the 15% participating interest in the Namibia Petroleum Exploration License (PEL) 30 for an undisclosed sum.

“This is a further endorsement of Eco’s strategy and the quality of the acreage that we have in our portfolio,” said Eco Atlantic president and chief executive Gil Holzman.

“This is ONGC Videsh’s second foray into Namibia and we are delighted, on the satisfaction of the conditions precedent, that they have decided to enter the Copper Block.”

Holzman added that the deal has the potential to expedite the first exploration well on Cooper Block, as all the partners are now lined up and the financial burdens are spread.  

Eco Atlantic is the operator of the block with a 32.5% holding.

Tullow Namibia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil, holds a 10% working interest in the oil block. Other parties include Azimuth Namibia Ltd with a 32.5% stake and National Petroleum Corp of Namibia (Pty) Ltd, which owns 10%.

Eco Atlantic has also contracted Tullow’s exploration team to oversee processing and conduct the initial interpretation for block partners.

All the partners agree there is a “highly justifiable lead” after evaluating data, and an exact drilling location is being defined.

“We look forward to working with them as we accelerate the work programme on this license and further define the exact drilling location,” said Holzman.

Eco has recently filed a NI51-101 compliant report by Gustavson Associates that reported 882 million barrels of oil resources on the block.

A 12-month extension to March 2019 for the first renewal period for all three blocks, including PEL 0030 Cooper, PEL 0033 Sharon and PEL 0034 Guy, was granted by the  Ministry of Mines and Energy in October.

Story by ProactiveInvestors