Doing a bit digging with them clogs on and there has been some more twists and turns over on the Ageis side.
BP are working on are door step!
Repsol revving up in Argentina
By Upstream staff
SPANISH oil giant Repsol YPF has begun processing 3D seismic data from a 2400 square-kilometre shoot in Argentinian waters in the western half of the Malvinas basin and is likely to be looking at drilling in the area in 2007, according to a manager with the Spanish company.
The seismic shoot, which was finished earlier this year, was carried out by WesternGeco on blocks CAA-40 and CAA-46, where Repsol is partnered by Pan American Energy, an Argentine-based company controlled by BP.
The blocks are located in water depths ranging from 500 metres to 600 metres.
Pan American moved into the two blocks when both BG Group and France's Total disposed of their interests in the area three years ago.
Repsol currently has a 65% stake in CAA-40 and a 50.5% share of CAA-46.
However, negotiations with Pan American are likely to result in a 50-50 split between the two companies, the Repsol manager said.
Argentina's under-explored offshore sector is seen as holding the potential to reverse the country's accelerating decline in reserves and output of crude oil. However, a lack of salt deposits and little evidence of turbidite structures have led geologists to classify both continental shelf slopes and deeper water areas as high-risk frontier plays.
The country's most significant offshore deposits are found in the Austral basin, off Tierra del Fuego, where the Total-operated Carina Aries gas development should eventually ramp up toward a targeted 8 million cubic metres per day of natural gas production.
The same consortium behind Carina-Aries consisting of Total, Wintershall and Pan American Energy drilled a wildcat called Gemini last year on Block CAA-35, located between Carina and the two blocks targeted by Repsol, but no hydrocarbons were found.
Repsol has also outlined plans to shoot seismic in deeper waters, on Block CCM2, in the Colorado Marina basin. Here the Spanish company holds a 90% stake and is partnered by PetroUruguay.