U.K. independent wins exploration license in western Argentina

Emerald Energy plc, Epsom, U.K., has been awarded an exploration license in the Nirihuau basin of western Argentina. Emerald says its 10,000 sq km Block CH-1 has the same geological character as and connections to Argentina's largest producing basins: Neuquen to the north and San Jorge to the south. A Mesozoic petroleum system in Neuquen and San Jorge was identified in Nirihuau, while a shallower Cenozoic system is responsible for many oil and gas seeps in the north of Nirihuau, the company

Jan. 5, 1998

2 min read

Emerald Energy plc, Epsom, U.K., has been awarded an exploration license in the Nirihuau basin of western Argentina.

Emerald says its 10,000 sq km Block CH-1 has the same geological character as and connections to Argentina's largest producing basins: Neuquen to the north and San Jorge to the south.

A Mesozoic petroleum system in Neuquen and San Jorge was identified in Nirihuau, while a shallower Cenozoic system is responsible for many oil and gas seeps in the north of Nirihuau, the company said.

Emerald reckons the block is highly prospective for targets at 10,000-12,000 ft. The operator has committed to spend $800,000 on geological and geophysical work over the next 3 years, with a view to identifying drilling locations for the license's second exploration period.

Peter Winton, managing director of Emerald, said, "Fiscal and contractual terms in Argentina are among the most attractive in the oil production world.

"The block awarded represents a quality exploration opportunity, as oil has already been discovered there."

The former Argentine state firm YPF SA drilled in a surface structure, the Minas del Petroleo anticline, in the 1930s and produced unrecorded quantities of oil on test at a depth of 6,000 ft.

Exxon Corp. drilled three other shallow wells in the early 1980s, each of which had oil shows, before relinquishing the concession.