Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 28 2021

LatAmOil BRAZIL LatAmOil

Atlanta lies in the shallow-water section of the handling 50,000 bpd of oil.
Santos Basin off Brazil’s south-eastern coast, and The company is currently the only share-
it is believed to contain around 1.3bn barrels of holder in the Atlanta field, which lies within a
oil in place (OIP). licence area known as Block BS-4. It recently
Enauta has said it wants to expand the field’s completed the acquisition of a 50% stake from
production system by drilling 12 more wells its former partner – Barra Energia, another Bra-
and attaching them to another FPSO capable of zilian independent. ™

ARGENTINA/FALKL AND ISL ANDS
Argentina sanctions three companies for

exploration work offshore Falklands

ARGENTINA’S government revealed last week This is not the first time Buenos Aires has
that it was imposing sanctions on three inter- sought to assert its authority over offshore oil
national oil companies (IOCs) that have been and gas exploration in the vicinity of the islands,
conducting exploration work off the coast of the which are known in Argentina as the Malvinas.
Falkland Islands. According to Filmus, Argentina’s government
Energy Minister Dario Martinez and Mal- invoked the 2011 law to impose sanctions on
vinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic Secretary another eight companies in 2012.
Daniel Filmus announced Buenos Aires’ deci- Harbour Energy is a company formed earlier
sion at a press conference. They named the this year via the merger of two UK-based firms,
three companies as Navitas Petroleum (Israel), Premier Oil and Chrysaor Holdings. Harbour
Chrysaor Holdings (UK) and Harbour Energy is working with Rockhopper Exploration to
(UK) and said that the government was serving explore and develop PL032, a block that con-
notice to all the firms because they had violated tains the Sea Lion oilfield, and Navitas is looking
Argentinian legislation passed in 2011 and 2013. to join the project.
The companies have been given 20 business According to previous reports, the cost of
days to respond to this notice, they stated. developing the PL032 block, which lies in the
Martinez and Filmus explained that the legis- North Falkland Basin, is anticipated to reach
lation in question obligates all companies seek- $1.8bn. Premier and Rockhopper found oil at
ing to operate on the continental shelf offshore the Sea Lion section of the block in 2010 and
Argentina to secure the express permission of said in 2014 that they hoped to begin production
Argentina’s government. Organisations that at the field, which may hold 1.7bn barrels of oil
violate these provisions are subject to being dis- in place (OIP), in about five years. They have yet
qualified from working in Argentina for five to to take a final investment decision (FID) on the
20 years and may also incur preventive embar- project, though. ™
goes, they said.
“The companies are not authorised to oper-
ate, nor have they requested authorisation, and
that is why we started this process, which has to
do with notification and sanctions,” Martinez
asserted. “The Ministry of Energy provided the
technical knowledge and records, and then the
Foreign Ministry will continue with the claims.”
Filmus, for his part, noted that Buenos Aires
had already made its position clear on sev-
eral occasions. The Argentinian government
delivered notes of discouragement to Navitas,
Chrysaor and Harbour last year, he said, and
has also secured support for its position from
several regional groups – Mercosur, the Ibe-
ro-American Summit and the Community of
Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
These organisations have all called for bilateral
negotiations on the status of the Falkland Islands
and cited a UN resolution calling on Argentina
and the UK not to take unilateral action. Sea Lion lies within Block PL032 (Image: Falkand Oil & Gas Ltd.)

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 28 15•July•2021