Offshore oil exploration firm United Oil & Gas Plc expects to secure a joint-venture partner by October, according to its full-year results published this week.
The company cited the disruption to global oil supply caused by the “effective closure” of the Strait of Hormuz as a factor sharpening investor interest in its Jamaica licence.
“Our farm-out strategy has gained momentum,” Chief Executive Brian Larkin said. “The strategic value of Atlantic-facing acreage with direct access to major markets has been fundamentally repriced, and Jamaica sits squarely in that category.”
The outbreak of conflict with Iran in late February 2026 and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Larkin stated, disrupted roughly 20 per cent of global sea-borne oil and liquefied natural gas supply. Nations increasingly want supplies outside the Gulf region, he added.
“In this environment the previous oversupply in oil markets has been eradicated,” Larkin said. “Frontier exploration returned to the top of the agenda for the world’s major oil companies during 2025 and into 2026.”
The London-listed explorer is targeting a farm-out agreement on the Walton Morant licence — a 22,400-square-kilometre offshore block south of Jamaica — by “October 2026”, with deal terms expected to cover back costs and all forward work programme expenses. The company has interested parties under non-disclosure agreements (NDA), though it has not identified them.
“We are encouraged by the calibre of the counterparties under NDA, reflecting both the quality of the asset and the work we have done to advance it,” Larkin said.
The farm-out pitch has been strengthened by results from a seabed survey completed in February 2026 across the licence area by specialist contractor TDI Brooks International aboard the research vessel Gyre. The survey identified butane and pentane hydrocarbons in seabed cores. An independent risking study published in September 2025 projected that a successful survey outcome could improve drilling odds on two key prospects: from one-in-five to one-in-three for the Colibri zone, and from one-in-eight to one-in-five for the Oriole zone.
The Walton Morant licence contains an estimated seven billion barrels of unrisked mean prospective resources. An independent assessment by Gaffney Cline and Associates attributed more than 2.4 billion barrels of recoverable unrisked mean prospective resources across five prospect zones. The licence runs to January 2028.
United reported a loss after tax of US$1.25 million for the year ended December 2025, narrowing from a loss of US$2.4 million in 2024, and held cash of US$1.7 million at year end.
business@gleanerjm.com
