MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Seven companies tender for Magallanes oil blocks

Seven corporations from United States, Canada, New Zealand, Egypt and Russia presented tenders for the oil and gas exploration blocks in Magallanes Region, extreme south of Chile.

Chile's Ministry of Mines said that seven companies and consortia formally presented tenders on Wednesday in the international bidding process for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the ten blocks from the Magallanes basin. "This comes to show the great interest among international companies to invest in Chile. We hope to successfully finalize this process in the coming months so we can continue to promote the diversification of our energy grid and reach greater degrees of autonomy", said Chilean Mines Minister Karen Poniachik currently in London. Poniachik said that 14 tenders for 9 of the 10 blocks were presented by the following companies and consortia: Total S.A. (US); Apache Canada LTD (Canada); Pan-American Energy LLC (US); Consortium Wintershall-Geopark-Methanex (US/Canada); Roch S.A. (Argentina); Greymouth Petroleum Holding Limited (New Zealand) and the consortium IPR-Manas (Egypt-Russia). The blocks which attracted most investors were: Otway, Tranquilo, Coirón and Lenga. In three of the blocks (Coirón, Caupolicán y Lenga), the company or consortium which is awarded the contract must participate in association with Chile's government owned oil and gas company ENAP. In the other six, (Tranquilo, Russfin, Porvenir, Brótula, Isla Magdalena and Otway), winners have full participation on exploration and exploitation rights and in all cases must act as the operator. According to the bidding process calendar next October 29 the results of assessments and qualifications of the administrative tenders will be made public and on Wednesday October 31, will take place the formal opening of envelopes with the economic tenders. According to the Chilean Ministry of Mines winning companies will operate under a Special Operation Contract, CEOP, to be subscribed with the Chilean government. Contracts will be for 35 years and have an Exploration phase and Production Phase.