TORONTO, Oct. 14, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd. ("Eco Atlantic" or the "Company") (TSX-V:EOG) (NSX:EOG) is pleased to announce that, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, it has closed the previously announced farm out transaction with Tullow Kudu Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil plc. ("Tullow"), including receiving all necessary Government of Namibia approvals, and the entering into an amended and restated joint operating agreement ("JOA") with Tullow, the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia ("NAMCOR"), and Azimuth Namibia Ltd ("Azinam").
As described in the Company's news release dated July 17, 2014, the Company and Tullow have entered into a Farm-Out Agreement (the "Farm-Out Agreement"), pursuant to which Tullow agreed to acquire up to a 40% working interest in the Company's Cooper block (the "Block"). With the signing of the JOA, all of the conditions in the Farm-Out Agreement with respect to the initial transfer of a 25% working interest in the Block have been satisfied. Eco Atlantic expects to receive a contribution of its past costs in the amount of approximately CAD$1 million. Eco Atlantic now holds a 45% carried working interest in the Block, Azimuth holds a 20% working interest, NAMCOR holds a 10% carried working interest and Tullow holds a 25% working interest.
Gil Holzman, Chief Executive Officer of Eco Atlantic commented: "The successful closing of the farm-out transaction with Tullow Oil, and formalization of the amended and restated JOA agreement with our partners Tullow, Azinam and NAMCOR on the Cooper Block, is a very important milestone for Eco. We are pleased to satisfy our work program obligations ahead of time, and advance the exploration on the Block. We are confident that our focused exploration program on Cooper will continue to create value for our shareholders and stakeholders."
About Eco Atlantic
Eco Atlantic is an oil and gas exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of unique upstream petroleum opportunities around the world. The Company's objective is to identify technically merited prospective new and developing projects in frontier areas requiring low cost entry. Through a wholly owned Namibian subsidiary ("Eco Namibia"), the Company currently holds three offshore petroleum license blocks covering more than 25,000 square kilometers in the Walvis Basin and one license block covering 23,000 square kilometers, which includes both onshore and offshore areas. Founded in 2008, Eco Namibia enjoys a strong local presence and has a longstanding relationship with the energy and oil and gas sector in Namibia and other maturing exploration plays in Africa.
Forward Looking Statements
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: Certain information in this press release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities law. Any statements that are contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with oil and gas production and exploration, marketing and transportation; retention of and ability to attract Company personnel, regulatory approvals, loss of markets; volatility of commodity prices; currency and interest rate fluctuations; imprecision of reserve estimates; environmental risks; competition; inability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources; changes in legislation, including but not limited to income tax, environmental laws and regulatory matters. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive.
Although Eco Atlantic believes in light of the experience of its officers and directors, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because Eco Atlantic can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and Eco Atlantic undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward- looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.
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