Uruguay eyes oil, gas E&P within energy transition

Market: Crude oil, Natural gas
21/02/25

Uruguay's state-run Ancap has hopes for an offshore oil or gas discovery, even as the country gears up for its second energy transition.

Uruguay has had only three exploratory wells drilled in its history, two in 1976 and one in 2017, and they all came up dry. Companies have completed 13,000 km² of 2D and 41,000 km² of 3D seismic testing this century.

Today, its seven offshore blocks have contracts, plans are underway for a new round of seismic testing and one company, US-based APA, wants to spud an exploratory well in its wholly operated block 6 in late 2026 or early 2027.

"For the first time in history, we have contracts in place for all the blocks and there is a great deal of interest that resources can be found" in Uruguay, Santiago Ferro, Ancap's energy transition manager, told Argus.

A public hearing on seismic testing was held 13 February and the environment ministry is reviewing proposals for permits.

Ferro said seismic testing will only be done in areas lacking data.

"We want to take advantage of existing information and complement it with new data to encourage drilling," he said.

The plan is for approximately 5,000 km² (1,930 mi²) of new seismic testing on two areas — block 1, operated by Chevron and UK-based Challenger Energy Group, and block 4, operated by Shell and APA. The work will likely happen in the final quarter of this year.

Ancap's plans will unfold under the new left-wing government of president-elect Yamandu Orsi, who takes office on 1 March.

The Oris administration is committed to deepening Uruguay's energy transition. It already has one of the greenest power grids, with 99pc of power coming from renewables, and the Orsi government wants to guarantee electrification of the transportation sector. He will arrive at his inauguration in an elective vehicle as a sign of the government's commitment.

The administration wants to decarbonize transportation in 10 years, which will require incentives for vehicles and investment in additional renewable power, principally solar energy.

It has not taken a public stand on oil and gas exploration or what it would do if recoverable resources were discovered.

By Lucien Chauvin

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03/05/25

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London, 3 May (Argus) — A core group of eight Opec+ members look set to today to accelerate, for a second consecutive month, their plan to unwind some of their production cuts, four delegates told Argus . As it did for May, the group would again raise its collective output target by 411,000 b/d in June, three times as much as it had planned in its original roadmap to gradually unwind 2.2mn b/d of crude production cuts by the middle of next year. The original plan envisaged a slow and steady unwind over 18 months from April, with monthly increments of about 137,000 b/d. But today's decision would mean that the eight — Saudi Arabia, Russia, the UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria, Oman and Kazakhstan — will have unwound almost half of the 2.2mn b/d cut in the space of just three months. The decision to maintain this accelerated pace into June would be somewhat surprising, particularly given the weakness in oil prices and the outlook for the global economy. The eight's decision last month to deliver a three-in-one hike in May was seen as a key reason for the recent slide in oil prices, alongside US President Donald Trump's tariff policies. Front month Ice Brent futures have fallen by about $13/bl since early April to stand at just over $61/bl. While Opec+ has said that it is acting to support an expected rise in summer demand, the decision to speed up the output increases once again appears to be driven by a desire to send a message to countries that have persistently breached their production targets — most notably Kazakhstan and Iraq. By Aydin Calik, Bachar Halabi and Nader Itayim Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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