Jethro-1, the well in the Orinduik Block that was found to not have commercially viable oil back in 2019, may get another lease on life after Canadian oil company Eco Atlantic announced in its SEDAR filings that they would be revisiting the well’s commercial value.
According to Eco in its filings to the Canadian authorities, Guyana continues to be one of the most prolific oil exploration destinations in the world. And with the recent increase in oil prices, Eco said that the joint venture partners would be revisiting the Jethro discovery and its potential to be commercialised.
The Orinduik oil block is just a few kilometres from ExxonMobil’s discoveries in the Liza and Payara fields. It is under the administration of Eco Guyana and Tullow. Earlier this year, Qatar Petroleum (40 per cent) and Total E&P Guyana BV (60 per cent), farmed into the block using Total’s 25 per cent working interest in the block.
Last year, Tullow had announced it was writing off US$1.2 billion in wells that were not financially viable. This included the Jethro-1 well, which encountered 55 metres of net oil when it was drilled.
The 2019 amount had included US$60 million for three wells Tullow drilled offshore Guyana but could not continue working on. The three wells – the Jethro-1, Joe and Carapa-1 wells, were all deemed not to have been financially viable due to the low-quality oil they contained.
In 2019, the company had revealed that samples from its other two discoveries at the Jethro-1 and Joe-1 wells in the Orinduik Block showed heavy crudes with high sulphur content – a variety of oil that is less economically viable than the light, sweet crudes found by United States oil giant ExxonMobil right offshore Guyana in the neighbouring Stabroek Block.
Tullow had also announced last year that it would be abandoning the Carapa-1 well on the Repsol-operated Kanuku licence, which turned up approximately four metres of net oil pay based on preliminary interpretation.
