Durrant Pate/Contributor

The Government of Jamaica is greenlighting United Oil & Gas to carry out geotechnical studies to boost understanding of the Walton and Morant basins, where it has a licence to prospect for oil and gas.

The government has given its stamp of approval to United’s plans to gather further data on its offshore acreage in the frontier Walton and Morant basins, which was previously operated by Tullow Oil under a joint venture arrangement. 

United, publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange, has been trying for years to farm out a stake in the Walter-Morant licence, and so acquiring additional information will help increase the chances of a successful deal.

The National Environment & Planning Agency (NEPA) has decided to grant an environmental permit and a beach licence for an offshore geotechnical programme. United aims to carry out a piston core survey, which will involve collecting between 40 and 60 seabed sediment samples from the two basins.

Details of the planned operation

The operation will deploy a long, cylindrical piston corer designed to penetrate the seafloor and retrieve undisturbed core samples. These samples will then undergo detailed geochemical analysis to improve understanding of the hydrocarbon generation potential and reservoir quality across the licence area.

To help select viable seabed locations, a multibeam echosounder survey is planned over certain deeper areas of the licence, particularly in regions of the Morant basin not currently covered by 3D seismic data. In addition, the survey will include a ‘heat probe’ analysis at specific locations to measure background heat flow and sediment thermal conductivity.

According to United, “this data will help to refine basin modelling and petroleum system analysis, and will also help identify and prioritise areas most likely to host commercial hydrocarbon accumulations.”

United chief executive Brian Larkin commended NEPA for granting its application, saying, “We welcome NEPA’s publication and view it as a positive indication of progress toward the next technical phase at Walton Morant. While we await the formal documentation, this is a significant milestone in our planning for the offshore programme and supports our strategy to advance the licence and unlock its value through disciplined technical work and industry engagement.”

Ongoing farm-out process 

He added that data from these campaigns “play an important role in our ongoing farm-out process, which continues to attract interest from credible counterparties.” Envoi is handling the farm-out process. 

Larkin noted that the company’s acreage “remains one of the few frontier licences with multi-billion-barrel potential and proximity to existing infrastructure in a stable jurisdiction near the US Gulf Coast.”

To date, the company has mapped over 40 leads on the licence, which expires in January 2028.

Last week, the company reported growing an “appetite for high-impact exploration is returning. Against this backdrop, our farm-out strategy has gained renewed momentum and [has] several parties under non-disclosure agreements.”