Offshore staff
(Madrid)- Repsol YPF announced that it has won 16 offshore exploration areas in Brazil in the latest bidding round organized by the National Petroleum, Natural Gas & Biofuel Agency of Brazil (ANP). All areas are located in the main offshore producing basins of Campos, Espíritu Santo and Santos.
The award brings Repsol YPF's total offshore ownership in Brazil to 24 blocks, making it the second largest operating oil company behind state-owned giant Petrobras in terms of number of exploration blocks. Repsol YPF will operate 11 of these areas, and will partner with Statoil, Amerada Hess, BG Energy and Petrobras for the remaining 5.
The areas were awarded at depths between 100 and 2,500 meters of water, and bolsters Repsol YPF's plan to focus on upstream assets for growth during the next several years.
The distribution of blocks is as follows: 1 block in the Campos basin (50% Repsol YPF, 50% Statoil); 2 blocks in the Espíritu Santo basin (one is 100% Repsol YPF and the other which is 40% Repsol YPF, 60% Amerada Hess); 13 blocks in the Santos basin (9 solely operated by Repsol YPF and the remaining blocks in partnership with Petrobras and BG Energy).
These blocks are adding to Repsol YPF's offshore reserves that were estimated at 40.9 MMbbl as of December 2004.
10/27/05
