Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas (LSE:ECO) was down 3.5% today as it released an operational update together with its financial results to 30th June. The company made a net loss of USD$868.8k compared with USD$2.1m for the same period in 2017. As of 30th June the company’s cash balance was USD$12.7m – USD$1.3m lower than when it started the quarter.
Eco has a number of licenses in South America and Africa. In Guyana, the company has been working with the Tullow team through the processing and interpretation of the Orinduik survey, with each batch of data being sent to Total. Eco anticipates delivery of the final data sets to Total in September 2018, which will trigger the commencement of the 120-day exercise period in which Total has the option to farm into 25% of Eco’s stake in the Orinduik Block for the sum of USD$12.5m.
A Competent Person’s Report (“CPR”) for the Orinduik Block based on the recent 3D interpretation is currently being prepared. Eco expects that the CPR will also be finalised in September.
In Namibia, the company has been granted a one-year extension to the First Renewal Exploration Period for all of its Licenses to March 2019. Each license will then enter the Second Renewal Period, which in turn has a two-year exploration phase which can be extended by a third year at the discretion of the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Two wells are scheduled to be drilled during Q3 and Q4 2018 on PEL 37 (Tullow Oil) and PEL 71 (Chariot Oil and Gas) in the Walvis Basin. The results of these wells are expected to add a significant amount of information to the overall understanding of the petroleum systems in the Basin, including the blocks held by Eco.
Gil Holzman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eco Atlantic, commented:
“We continue to receive very interesting findings as our 3D interpretation progresses in Guyana, and, coupled with the recent additional Exxon discoveries in the adjacent Block, our partners continue to make excellent progress on the pre-drilling engineering and resource evaluation.
“Similarly, we have spent the last quarter advancing our Namibian assets, including the extension of the current exploration period across all of our licences through to March 2019, the beginning of the second two year Renewal Period. We have also been identifying and evaluating new opportunities in other frontier regions.”