Units of European drillers divest stakes in Argentine offshore blocks

Two upstream firms were authorized to offload stakes in offshore hydrocarbons licenses in Argentina.

The three transactions were announced in decrees published Thursday and come just a day after the country’s first ultra-deepwater exploration well – Argerich-1 – was declared dry by operator Equinor Argentina, a subsidiary of Norway's Equinor.

Two, for AUS-106 and AUS-105, correspond to exploration contracts awarded in a 2018-19 licensing round, which resulted in Argentina granting 18 areas to nine groups of companies.

AUS-106

The government authorized Equinor to offload a 25% chunk of its 100% stake in Austral basin license AUS-106 to CGC Energía.

Argentine authorities recently gave Equinor until August to shoot 3D seismic at AUS-106 and another basin block, AUS-105. Company plans to shoot seismic at Malvinas Oeste license MLO-121 were also greenlit.

AUS-105

Equinor was authorized to offload a quarter of its 100% owned license for AUS-105 to CGC Energía.

Tauro-Sirius

Eni Argentina Exploración y Explotación, part of Italy's Eni, was authorized to transfer its 30% stake in the Tauro-Sirius extraction license to Pan American Sur, a unit of Pan American Energy, in turn jointly owned by Argentine-Chinese venture Bridas and UK major BP.

Once the deal closes, Total Austral and Wintershall Energía will each hold 35% and Pan American Sur 30%.

Tauro-Sirius is within the CAM-1 concession, in the Austral basin. Tauro-Sirius is not in production.

In the basin, operator Total Austral produces hydrocarbons at the nearby CMA-1 concession, where the 10Mm3/d (million cubic meters per day) Fénix project is due online by year-end.

The only other producing offshore asset in the basin is the Magallanes area, operated by a unit of Chile's Enap. 

Enap wants to exit Argentina’s upstream segment. 

In 2022, around 7.3Mm3/d of natural gas was produced at Magallanes and CMA-1.