Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 03 2022

LatAmOil ARGENTINA LatAmOil

Wintershall to drop assets

in both Brazil and Argentina

WINTERSHALL Dea (Germany) has Other plans in Argentina
announced plans to unload assets in Brazil and Meanwhile, Wieland noted that Wintershall was
Argentina this week. not looking to exit Argentina. He pointed out,
In a press release dated January 17, the Ger- though, that the sale of the Aguada Federal and
man company stated that it was terminating Bandurria Norte stakes would allow the com-
all of its operations in Brazil. It said it did not pany to optimise its investments in gas produc-
intend to keep the non-operating stakes it had tion in that country.
acquired in nine exploration blocks in the Cam- “With the sale of our interests in Aguada Fed-
pos, Ceará, Potiguar and Santos basins during eral and Bandurria Norte, we are focusing our
various bidding rounds in 2018 and 2019. activities in Argentina on gas production. Here
Wintershall has no outstanding operational we have a strong position in the country, with
or financial commitments under any of the con- projects in Tierra del Fuego and Neuquén, that
tracts for these sites, the press release said. As contribute significantly to Argentina’s energy
such, the company will be able to exit the blocks supply,” he said.
once it takes all of the necessary legal steps to He was referring to the Cuenca Marina
do so. Austral block offshore Tierra del Fuego, which
Thilo Wieland, the Wintershall board mem- accounts for about 16% of Argentina’s current
ber responsible for operations related to Rus- natural gas production, and also to the Aguada
sia, Latin America and transportation, said the Pichana Este block in the Neuquén basin, where
company was taking this step as part of a wider Wintershall is working with TotalEnergies
effort to focus on natural gas production and on (France), Pan American Energy (Argentina)
selected oil projects with lower carbon emis- and the national oil company (NOC) YPF to
sions and environmental risks. “This decision extract dry gas.
is the result of a very thorough analysis of our According to Wieland, Wintershall and its
global portfolio and evaluation of individual partners are also close to committing to another
projects and how they fit with our long-term gas project in southern Argentina. This project
strategy,” he commented. will target the Fenix field, which lies about 60 km
In a separate press release issued the same offshore Tierra del Fuego, and operator TotalEn-
day, the German company said it had decided ergies is moving towards making a final invest-
to sell its stake in two unconventional gas blocks ment decision (FID), he said.
in Argentina, Aguada Federal and Bandurria “We will focus on the further development
Norte, to a local subsidiary of its partner Vista of this important gas cluster in the south of the
Oil. The two sides have struck a deal that will country, which offers a promising future pro-
allow Vista, a Mexico-based company, to raise ject with Fenix ... With the project expected to
its holdings in the project from 50% to 100% and deliver additional significant natural gas vol-
assume operatorship, it stated. umes for more than 15 years, we are reaffirming
Wintershall did not disclose the value of our long-term commitment to Argentina,” he
the deal, but Vista said earlier this week that it said. ™
had agreed to pay $140mn. It said it intended to
make an up-front payment of $90mn by January
18 and would pay off the remaining $50mn in
eight instalments.
Vista is a relative newcomer to the uncon-
ventional gas project, which targets reserves in
Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale formation. It only
recently acquired a non-operating 50% stake in
the blocks from ConocoPhillips (US).
Miguel Galuccio, the chairman and CEO of
the Mexican company, said he expected the deal
with Wintershall to benefit Vista. “This deal is a
unique opportunity that allows us to continue
expanding our leadership in Vaca Muerta and
to reaffirm our commitment to its development
by incorporating high-potential assets, in which
we plan to capture significant operational syner-
gies,” he stated. Wintershall assets in Argentina and Brazil (Images: Wintershall)

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