Eco Atlantic Moves Forward with Orange Basin Offshore Block Plans
May 6, 2025
Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas, an Atlantic Margin-focused oil and gas exploration company, has moved forward in the process of formalizing the operatorship of the recently acquired block offshore South Africa.
As announced in 2024, Eco has, through its wholly owned subsidiary Azinam South Africa, Eco entered into a farm-in agreement with Tosaco Energy to acquire a 75% working interest and operatorship in Block 1 offshore South Africa.
The company is now in the final stages of securing the requisite Section 11 regulatory approval to complete the transfer of interest and formalize operatorship, with the approval is expected in the near term.
In addition, Eco has completed the strategic acquisition of high-quality 2D and 3D seismic and well logs from the Petroleum Agency South Africa (PASA).
The obtained data includes two 3D seismic surveys totaling 3,500 km2, and over 20,000 line kilometers of 2D seismic, covering three key exploration well logs: AF-1, AO-1, and AE-1, which have all been drilled on the block in the late 1980s by Soekor, South Africa’s former state oil company.
The three wells were part of Soekor’s regional Orange Basin program and offer critical calibration for seismic interpretation and future prospect de-risking.
All data is of high-resolution quality and is processing-ready, currently requiring no reprocessing or reconditioning. The seismic surveys offer full coverage across key structural and stratigraphic targets, from inboard gas-prone zones to outboard oil-charged systems, according to Eco.
Block 1 spans 19,929 km2 offshore South Africa, directly abutting the Namibian border. The block extends from the shore to the continental shelf, some 175km offshore then to around 263 km out into deep water, encompassing a full margin transect from the shelf to deep water channel and fan complexes.
The acreage is considered geologically analogous to the Kudu gas field to the north and sits immediately south of recent discoveries made by Galp Energia (Mopane), Shell (Graff, La Rona), TotalEnergies (Venus), and Rhino Resources (Capricornus 1-X light oil discovery).
Eco will assume operatorship of the block upon final regulatory approval. As the current Exploration Right Budget and Work Plan does not involve field operations, the program proceeds without the need for additional environmental permitting, for immediate interpretation and technical work to progress.
“This strategic acquisition of high-quality 2D and 3D seismic, along with historic well logs deliver massive value to the company. This acquisition is currently conservatively estimated to replace $50-60 million in acquisition costs required for new exploration. The data quality enables us to aggressively pursue subsurface interpretation and prospect ranking immediately. This dataset provides a robust foundation for accelerated prospect maturation and the opportunity to consider potential farm-out and partnership conversations,” said Colin Kinley, Co-Founder and COO of Eco Atlantic.
Kinley added the company is currently actively negotiating farm-out and drilling participation opportunities on our Orinduik Block in Guyana in parallel with the South African program.
