BUENOS AIRES, – Argentina on Tuesday put on offers for 38 offshore blocks, most of them on its continental slope, international media reported.
“There is a lot of interest,†said Javier Iguacel, the country’s energy secretary
The geology on the slope is similar to that offshore Guyana, where ExxonMobil announced a series of recent discoveries, the report added. The blocks are located in three separate basins in the South Atlantic – northern Argentine, Austral and western Malvinas – in water depths of 100-4,000 metres.
This will be the first big exploration effort in Argentina since 1991, with only sporadic attempts since.
In a June interview, Rodrigo Garcia Berro, an adviser to the Energy Secretariat who is spearheading the auction, said he thinks explorers will bid because there is so little known about the offshore acreage.
Argentina’s only offshore region in production is off the coast of Tierra del Fuego, the source of about 20% of the country’s gas.
The rest is largely virgin, and at least two dozen companies have stepped forward to express interest, including US-based Anadarko Petroleum, ConocoPhillips and Hunt Oil, as well as Italy’s ENI and Ireland’s Tullow Oil, Scotland’s Cairn Energy and Australia’s Woodside Energy. Norway’s Equinor and the big international players already in Vaca Muerta also have taken part in talks to prepare for the round.
The round is coming three months later than previously expected and this has raised concerns about why.
The government hasn’t mentioned any specific reasons, but most analysts say it’s probably because of a change in leadership. Iguacel was appointed in June after his predecessor, Juan Jose Aranguren, was fired, meaning there may have been delays.
The deadline for bids is February 2019.
