ENARSA outlines ambitious offshore licensing plans for Argentina

Enarsa is planning to launch the first of a series of six offshore bid rounds that will take place twice a year through 2010. The first round will include nine offshore blocks: one each in the Rio Salado and Colorado basins, and seven blocks in the Golfo de San Jorge Basin area off the coasts of the Chubut and Northern Santa Cruz provinces. Service contracts will be offered to the winning bidders, with Enarsa holding the title and a 51% minimum interest. The state company will retain a provision to increase this to 60% in the event of a commercial discovery. The exploration term will consist of an initial five-year period with the possibility for a one-year extension. Enarsa will be carried for exploration costs if no oil or gas is discovered. However, if a commercial discovery is made a 25-year production contract goes into effect with Enarsa providing up to 50% of net revenues to reimburse its share of the exploration expenses. The objective is to have all Argentine waters under active exploration by 2010, in hopes that the trends that have yielded recent discoveries in southern Brazil and/or offshore Africa extend into the Argentine deepwater.

This article is extracted from International Oil Letter, Vol 24 issue 18, published 5 May 2008.

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