Offshore staff
BOGATA, Colombia – Ecopetrol S.A. reports that its US affiliate has placed the most competitive bids for six blocks in the recent Central Planning Area Lease Sale 227 held in New Orleans, as disclosed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
In this lease sale, Ecopetrol America Inc. partnered with Murphy Exploration and Production in two blocks; with Anadarko US Offshore Corp., MCX Gulf of Mexico LLC, and JX Nippon Oil Exploration (U.S.A) Ltd. in two blocks; and in two blocks Ecopetrol America has 100% interest.
The official awarding of the blocks will be conducted by BOEM in the coming months after the checking of bids and ascertaining that the companies fulfill the conditions required for the round.
The economic bids placed by Ecopetrol America and its partners in the six blocks add up to approximately $15.5 million, with Ecopetrol America’s share consisting of approximately $6.2 million.
These blocks allow deep water hydrocarbon exploration in water depths of over 221 m (725 ft)for a five to seven-year period. The new blocks are added to the 47 obtained on the GoM in previous lease sales. With these six blocks, Ecopetrol America Inc. could increase its participation in this prolific hydrocarbon basin to 136 blocks.
The results obtained strengthen Ecopetrol’s position in the Gulf of Mexico, which it considers a focus area in itsinternationalization process.
04/08/2013
