Eco Atlantic drills dry hole offshore South Africa

Eco Atlantic drilled a dry hole in the Gazania-1 well on Block 2B, 25 km offshore the Northern Cape in Orange Basin South Africa in about 150 m of water. The company will now drill a two-well campaign on Block 3B/4B, offshore South Africa, scheduled to begin in 2023, and at least one well into Cretaceous targets on Orinduik block, offshore Guyana.

Gazania-1 spudded on Oct. 10, 2022, and reached target depth of 2,360 m but did not show evidence of commercial hydrocarbons. Gases normally associated with light oil were encountered throughout the drilling of the well which, according to Eco Atlantic, confirms that the active hydrocarbon system, proven by the A-J1 discovery well in 1988, extends to the part of the basin where Gazania-1 is located. Further seismic interpretation will likely lead to the definition of viable areas for trapping downdip of Gazania-1 closer to the 1988 oil discovery.

Well logging is currently ongoing and the JV partners will undertake a detailed analysis of the results to inform future plans.

The well will be plugged (OGJ Online Oct. 4, 2022).

Eco Atlantic is operator at Block 2B with 50% interest. Partners are Africa Energy Corp. (27.5%), Panoro 2B Ltd., a subsidiary of Panoro Energy ASA (12.5%), and Crown Energy AB (10%).