Nineteen bids to explore oil off the coast of Uruguay have been submitted by nine energy companies. Following the discovery of massive reserves in the deep-water off the Atlantic coast of Brazil, neighbouring country Uruguay has been encouraged to look into the exploration of energy resources along its coastline. Oil discoveries would help to reduce the country’s reliance on imports.
The nineteen bids placed by the nine foreign energy companies of the eleven companies that were qualified for the bidding process, were for eight of the 15 blocks being offered for exploration. The blocks being bid on are in the areas closest to the Brazilian border near the Pelotas basin. Companies who have placed bids are British BP and BG Group, Shell, Total from France, Exxon Mobil and Tullow Oil PLC and consortiums made up of Cepsa and Murphy from Spain and Argentina’s YPF. Three of more companies were competing in five of the blocks offered.
Over 50% of the area from the bidding process has been granted to develop exploration works by BP, BG Group, Total and Tullow Oil, joining exploration projects already underway in the Uruguayan offshore by Petrobras, YPF and GALP. The three offshore basins have been named Oriental del Plata, Punta del Este and Pelotas which has been of particular interest to the oil companies. The contracts will be signed with a deadline of September 2012, once the bids have been assessed and government approval.
Uruguay’s state energy company Ancap imports approximately 900,000 barrels of crude every 25 days from Brazil, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa and Venezuela for local refining and drought and a shutdown at its sole refinery have forced it to also import gasoline, diesel and fuel oil.