(Alliance News) - Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas Ltd on Tuesday said the second exploration well on Guyana's Orinduik block, Joe-1, has been successfully spud.
Eco Atlantic owns 15% of the block, with FTSE 250-constituent Tullow Oil PLC owning 60% and French oil giant Total SA the remaining 25%.
Earlier in August, Eco's shares nearly doubled in value after the first well, Jethro-1, made a "significant" discovery on the offshore field.
Eco was 2.8% higher early Tuesday in London at 153.15 pence a share, having been at 68.00p on August 8. Shares in Tullow were 1.7% higher at 210.40p.
Eco said the partners believe the well will take around three weeks to drill, testing the Tertiary period level on the northern part of Orinduik.
Eco Chief Operating Officer Colin Kinley said: "We are very pleased to have spudded on Sunday our second exploration well on Orinduik. After the discovery made on Jethro in the Lower Tertiary, which greatly de-risked that age section throughout the block, we are now moving to an Upper Tertiary target in the Joe prospect where we are targeting over 100 million barrels of oil.
"If a further discovery is made, it will further enhance the value of the block with this shallower play. The estimated chance of success for Joe is the same as Jethro, although it is a completely different play, and we are confident in our 3D interpretation as we were ahead of the Jethro-1 discovery."
"We look forward to continued success in our exploration efforts as we move forward to define the plays available to us in all the various geological ages and to develop this block," Kinley added.
