The extended period of non-activity that followed was mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed formal signature of the license. Now the first four-year exploration period has started.
Challenger’s minimum work obligation involves reprocessing and reinterpretation of historical 2D seismic data, with no drilling obligation in the initial phase.
The company estimates potential resources at more than 1 Bboe, based on mapping from multiple exploration plays and leads in relatively shallow waters, with significant upside. The assessment is supported by state oil company ANCAP’s P50 estimate of 136 BBoe.
According to Challenger, the AREA OFF-1 play 2dsystem is directly analogous to recent giant conjugate margin discoveries offshore Namibia by Total (the Venus well) and Shell (the Graff well), which encountered reportedly multibillion-barrel Cretaceous turbidite reservoirs.
The same Aptian play source rock and petroleum systems are present in Challenger’s license.
The company has received various indications of interest in farm-in opportunities, which it will consider with a view to potentially include new 3D seismic acquisition in the first license exploration period.
AREA OFF-1 covers 15,000 sq km in water depths from 20 m to 1,000 m, 100 km from the Uruguayan coast. Chevron drilled two wells in the area in 1976.
In 2019 Shell, bp, TotalEnergies and Equinor were awarded various licenses offshore Argentina to the south, close to the Argentina-Uruguay maritime border. The main well targets in these Saladio Basin licenses, Challenger added, will likely be the same as the Cretaceous syn rift and turbidite plays potentially present in AREA OFF-1.
The license also shares technical characteristics found in the prolific Guyana-Suriname offshore basin.
05.26.2022
