Tullow Oil will likely decide on the target for its second upcoming well on Guyana's offshore Orinduik block this month, with the shortlist of candidates believed to have grown slightly, writes Eoin O'Cinneide.

The Anglo-Irish independent and its partners, French supermajor Total and London-listed junior Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas, have recently confirmed the charter of the drillship Stena Forth for the first wildcat on the block, targeting the Jethro-Lobe prospect.

The rig is currently operating for Tullow off Ghana after the operator last year took it as its second drilling unit across its Jubilee and Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) acreage.

The rig will leave West Africa in late May and should be available to start drilling just days after arriving on Orinduik, Eco chief executive Gil Holzman said. “It is a hot rig, which is a big advantage. It is up and running and the crew is there and continuously drilling,” Holzman told Upstream, adding of a possible spud date: “I think the first week of June is most likely.”

Holzman also said the rig has been contracted for two wells for the partners, to be drilled back-to-back.

“We are fine-tuning our interpretation... In the next two to maximum three weeks, we will be in a position to announce the second target,” Holzman said late last week.

“First, we will need to notify the government.”

A Tullow spokesperson said the selection of the second well is likely to be confirmed in the second half of March.

A presentation from Tullow in December highlighted four prospects on the block that were potential drilling targets for this year — Kumaka, Amaila and Aurituk, as well as the initial target, Jethro-Lobe.

However, it appears the partners are also looking beyond the other three for their second well, with Holzman saying four to five potential targets are being reviewed.

Other prospects seen at Orinduik are Amatuk, Joe, Rappu, Tuktuk, Drios, Blacktip, Mako and Iatuk.

The partners are budgeting an average of 40 days for each well, with an average well cost of $25 million.

Eco has given Jethro-Lobe a pre-drill resource estimate of up 250 million barrels of oil gross, with operator Tullow more conservative at 100 million barrels.

One of the potential follow ups to Jethro-Lobe, Aurituk, is assessed as possibly being an extension of ExxonMobil's Hammerhead discovery on the prolific Stabroek block next door.

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