MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mrs. Kirchner opens oil exploration in South Atlantic

CFK surrounded by oil rig workers in the Argentine sea

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner officially marked on Monday the beginning of operations of a South Atlantic oil rig, the first to be fully financed by Argentine government and private investors.

The Ocean Scepter, specially built in Houston arrived early September and is currently involved in exploratory operations in the San Jorge Gulf, 45 kilometers off shore Comodorio Rivadavia, an undertaking financed by Argentina's Energy Corporation, Enarse, YPF, which is now in private Argentine hands, and Sipetrol, Chile's overseas branch of its government owned oil corporation Enap. "Finding Argentine entrepreneurs who bet on their country is not easy, many times it's more profitable to invest overseas in financial or other assets", said Mrs. Kirchner during a brief ceremony on the Ocean Scepter where she arrived on a helicopter. At the rig she was received by Enrique Ezkenazi and Sebastian Ezkenazi, who now hold a majority stake in YPF. Mrs. Kirchner flew in with Federal Planning minister Julio De Vido and the governors of the Patagonian provinces of Chubut and Santa Cruz, Mario Das Neves and Daniel Peralta. The Argentine leader praised the Ezkenazi family for their "patriotism" and "intelligence". "The decision to invest in the offshore operation was undertaken when financial capitalism dominated the world, so their decision has a double merit, patriotism and intelligence for believing in Argentina and continuing to invest in the country", she emphasized. Mrs. Kirchner also said she felt proud and moved to see the "old YPF" back under Argentine flag and "in spite of the cold and the wind, it's a great day for Argentina, we've rebuilt the self steem of Argentines, the self steem we had lost in the nineties". Before leaving she handed to the officials and workers of the rig an image of Argentina's patron saint, Virgen de Lujan "which was given to me by father Juan Carlos from Caleta Oliva", in Santa Cruz province. The Ocean Scepter is performing exploratory work in the Austral Basin of the San Jorge Gulf. If successful, the exploration program requiring investments exceeding 150 million US dollars annually will help meet the increasing energy demands of Argentina and generate hundreds of jobs directly and indirectly in the provinces of Chubut and Santa Cruz. The exploration campaign includes two major drilling projects. The first one, which will be operated by YPF, is called the Aurora Project and is located in the San Jorge Gulf (Area GSJM-1). The second project, Helix Project E2 is located in the Austral Basin (Area E2) and will be operated by Enap Sipetrol Argentina. The Helix Project E2 is operated by the tripartite consortium formed by ENARSA, YPF and Enap Sipetrol Argentina, while the Aurora Project lies exclusively with YPF. In September 2006, ENARSA, Enap Sipetrol Argentina and YPF signed the agreement to explore, develop and exploit oil deposits in the Area E2 in the Argentine continental shelf, an area of about 14,000 square kilometres off the coast of Santa Cruz and the Strait of Magellan. Over the next few months, and in the framework of Project Helix E2, the Ocean Scepter will spud the first of two planned exploratory wells that are approximately 1600 meters in depth. In this way, as the operator of Area E2, Enap Sipetrol Argentina returns to drill in the Austral Basin in association with ENARSA. The last direct involvement of a state enterprise in offshore activities dates back to the end of the seventies, with the General Enrique Mosconi rig. The Aurora Project marks a return offshore drilling in the Gulf of San Jorge after 30 years. The first phase of the project envisages drilling four wells to a depth of approximately 2500 meters each. The primary objective is to identify the potential of the area as a producer of hydrocarbons.