Tullow will sell its total interest in Tullow Guyana to its minority partner Eco Atlantic for $700,000 in cash and potential future payments, if production starts. The deal will take Eco’s stake in the Orinduik field, in which TotalEnergies owns 25% and where Tullow drilled what it deemed two uncommercial wells in 2019, to 75% and make Eco operator of the project, according to Reuters.
Guyana has become a major oil producer in recent years, with ExxonMobil operating prolific fields in the vicinity of Orinduik. Tullow in 2020 said it would focus the majority of its spending on its existing infrastructure in West Africa, with Ghana at its center.
Eco said it planned to drill to test the cretaceous zone, which is the depth at which oil discoveries were made in the adjacent Stabroek Block, operated by ExxonMobil. It added it planned to sell down part of its stake.
If Eco makes a commercial discovery, it will pay Tullow $4 million in addition to a further $10 million if Guyana issues a production license and royalty payments on future production.