United Oil & Gas (UOG) one of the project partners on the Walton Morant Basin has announced that the Production Sharing Agreement has been amended to extend the initial exploration period during which a drill-or-drop decision is required for a further six months. Tullow Jamaica is the majority stakeholder with 80% interest and is the operator.

Tullow Jamaica Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of leading independent oil and gas exploration and production company, Tullow Oil plc.

According to a release from the company, the initial exploration period was due to expire on 31 January 2020, at which point a commitment to drill an exploration well would have been required to move into the next phase of the licence.

With the extension, United has indicated that the partners in the joint venture now have until 31 July 2020 before the drill-or-drop decision is required.

UOG also indicated that a joint venture farmdown effort being led by Tullow is currently in progress, with the aim of bringing in an additional partner(s) for exploration drilling in 2021 on the Colibri prospect.

It is reported that several interested parties are continuing their evaluations of the licence data, and the extension was granted to provide sufficient time for these to be completed. The extension does not require any additional work programme commitments.

Brian Larkin CEO, UOG said, "We are very pleased with the extension that has been granted. We saw additional interest in the licence towards the end of 2019, and this extension will allow those parties to fully evaluate this excellent opportunity."

"We continue to be excited by the exploration potential in this super wild-cat area – not just in the Colibri prospect, but also in the followon opportunities that extend across the licensed acreage.”

The Walton Morant licence extends for over 32,000km2, and with numerous plays and prospects already identified across three separate basins, and according to UOG, the opportunity provides the company with exciting access to high-risk/highreward frontier exploration.

In May 2018, the acquisition of 2,250km2 of 3D seismic data was successfully completed. This was the first-ever 3D survey completed in Jamaica, and it focused on the high-graded Colibri lead.