Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas has initiated a farm-in to acquire a 75% working interest in Block 1 in the Orange Basin off the South African coast.
The company, through its wholly owned subsidiary Azinam South Africa, will become the operator of the new exploration venture after the acquisition from Tosaco Energy.
Tosaco plans to hand over its remaining 25% stake to OrangeBasin Oil and Gas, a recently established company in South Africa.
Concurrently, Eco Atlantic has decided to relinquish its 50% working interest in offshore Block 2B in South Africa.
Block 1 spans 19,929km² area adjacent to the Namibian border and extends up to 263km west into the deep waters of the Orange Basin.
The farm-in agreement stipulates an initial payment of $150,000 (C$205,600), with subsequent payments contingent on government title transfer and the commissioning of a resource report.
The block has existing 2D and 3D seismic data, and no further seismic acquisition or drilling is planned during the initial three-year period.
Eco Atlantic's in-house team will focus on interpreting and analysing the data to advance the planned work programme.
The farm-in is subject to customary governmental approvals, and no field activity requiring environmental permits is planned at this stage.
Regarding the relinquishment of Block 2B, Eco Atlantic has completed all necessary documentation and environmental audits.
The company said it has informed the Petroleum Agency of South Africa and awaits acceptance of the relinquishment, after which it will have no further obligations concerning Block 2B.
This move aligns with the company's strategy to focus on its core assets including interests in Namibia and Guyana.
Eco Atlantic co-founder and CEO Colin Kinley said: "The Orange Basin continues to prove to be one of the newest and most prolific plays in the world and is running similar statistics to our Guyana play. This is a strategic play for Eco that we have worked on over the past year, focusing on both oil and gas potential, and where we believe there are significant near-shore prospective gas resources. There are inboard gas discoveries on the block, Kudu to the North and multiple discoveries in the Ibhubesi field to the South.
“With the reach of the block some 250km out into the Atlantic, this puts the west end of the block into highly prospective opportunities for oil being just south and on trend with Shell's Graff discovery and Galp's Mopane discoveries, and north of our 3B/4B Block oil targets recently farmed out to TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy."
