Petrobras may explore offshore Argentina

Offshore staff

(Brazil)-Petrobras may start exploration activities off the coast of Argentina in 2006. This would represent a significant advance in offshore Argentina's E&P activities, which to date are sparse.

So far, there is almost no offshore production by oil companies in the country, with the exception of some gas production off the Southern Tierra del Fuego region by French company Total.

Petrobras Southern Cone Executive Manager Decio Oddone made the announcement, and went on to say that Petrobras is currently in talks with Argentine state-run energy company Enarsa over where and under which terms Petrobras would start its offshore E&P activities in the country.

Petrobras will be expected to handle investing activities on any project and will bring its expertise in deepwater E&P in exchange for guarantees of production rights.

Petrobras' current Argentine production of less than 100,000 b/d comes mainly from onshore areas. This is contrasted with the company's daily offshore production in Brazil of over 1.7 MMbbl.

Geological data on offshore Argentine reserves remain scarce, Oddone added, making it difficult for Petrobras to know with any certainty how much they will invest in offshore drilling. Oddone commented that "Argentina is still a virgin offshore area. It's much more frontier than Brazilian offshore areas, for example."

12/07/2005