QatarEnergy has acquired interests in three offshore exploration blocks in Uruguay from a subsidiary of Shell, marking its first entry into the South American country's upstream energy sector, the state-owned company said on Wednesday without disclosing financial details.
The Qatari energy giant's South American exploration expansion also strengthens its strategic alliance with Shell, one of its key partners in energy projects within Qatar and elsewhere.
The company, the world's largest single LNG producer before the US-Israeli war on Iran forced production halts and resulted in damage to some facilities, has been building up an upstream portfolio over several years, including interests in Brazil, Cyprus, Egypt and elsewhere.
Under the agreements, QatarEnergy took 30 per cent stakes in block OFF-2 and block OFF-7, where Shell is the operator and holds 70 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. QatarEnergy also acquired an 18 per cent interest in block OFF-4.
APA Corporation operates block OFF-4, in which it holds a 50 per cent stake and Shell holds 32 per cent. In block OFF-7, Chevron holds the remaining 30 per cent interest, QatarEnergy said.
"We are pleased to strengthen our relations with our strategic partner Shell through these agreements, which mark our first entry into Uruguay’s upstream sector," QatarEnergy CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said in the statement.
The three blocks are located off Uruguay’s Atlantic coast in water depths ranging from 40 to 4,000 metres. They cover areas of between 11,155 and 18,227 sq km, the company said.
No commercial oil and gas discoveries have yet been struck in Uruguay, but companies hope to replicate the massive recent discoveries made in Namibia, on the direct opposite side of the Atlantic, because of their shared geological history.
(Reporting by Yousef Saba Editing by David Goodman)