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The government of Argentina ended 2021 with encouraging news for
the country's deep water exploration. In a resolution published
just before the end of the year, the government lifted the
suspension on a 3D seismic project planned by operator Equinor and
partners in blocks CAN-100, CAN-108 and CAN-114 in the Argentina
Basin, about 290 km from the city of Mar del Plata, in water depths
between 1,500 m to 3,500 m. The project had been presented to the
public in a virtual hearing held in July 2021, although the
government then suspended it in September 2021 due to environmental
concerns.
Blocks CAN-108 and CAN-114 were part of 38 blocks offered by the
government during the Argentina Offshore Bid Round 1. The auction
was officially launched in November 2018, with the opening of bid
envelopes in April 2019. The government directly awarded the
CAN-100 block to YPF in April 2019 and Equinor and Shell farmed-in
later, with Equinor being the current operator of the block.
Figure 1: Ownership of blocks involved in the Argentina 3D
seismic project
The 3D proposed area is relatively well covered with 2D seismic
data, and only partially covered by a smaller previous 3D seismic
survey. Overall, the Argentina Basin is underexplored with only
three wells drilled in the mid-1990s, of which one had oil shows
and the other two gas shows. No wells have been drilled in the area
of the planned project, however it is expected that, depending on
the results of the program, the companies will drill, most likely
in the CAN-100 block as previously announced by YPF.
Offshore exploration is not new in Argentina, and in fact, the
country produces from shallow-water fields in the Austral Basin in
Tierra del Fuego. The fields were discovered in the early 1980s and
are mostly operated by TotalEnergies. There are more than 40
producing wells which, as of November 2021, have produced more than
700 MMscf/d of gas and more than 7 Mb/d of condensate. The offshore
has contributed about 14% of the total gas produced in
Argentina.
Equinor's proposed 3D seismic in the Argentina Basin could help
discover resources in a region that is vastly unexplored, although
it is a preliminary stage in the exploration process, and it does
not guarantee the existence of resources per se. But Argentina is
already benefiting from production in the offshore and could
benefit even more if resources are found in the deep water,
similarly to many countries including neighboring Brazil.
Figure 2: Map of Argentina planned offshore 3D
seismic
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