The Argentine government authorized the sale of three offshore blocks from the Austral basin, a day after Norway's Equinor and Shell Oil said they had not found a trace of oil in the well Argerikch drilled offshore Argentine province of Buenos Aires.
Brazil expects to pocket some US$ 1.45 billion from the sixth round of oil and gas block licensing for the pre-salt zone offshore. Reuters reports, citing the special secretary to the Economy Ministry, Waldery Rodriguez, that the total minimum sum of signing bonuses for all the blocks that will be tendered on November 7th is US$ 1.9 billion.
Argentina awarded permits to begin hydrocarbon exploration in 18 areas off the coast of the Buenos Aires province, the Austral basin and the Malvinas West basin, which neighbors with the Falkland Islands, the insular territory claimed by Argentina.
Norway's US$ 1 trillion sovereign wealth fund is expected to sell some of its oil and gas holdings. The world's largest sovereign wealth fund owns US$ 37bn of shares in oil companies such as BP, Shell and France's Total.
The latest report from Global Data, FPSO Industry Outlook, suggests that a total of 74 planned and announced floating production, storage, and offloading units (FPSOs) are expected to start operations globally by 2025. Globally, South America leads with 32 planned and announced FPSO additions by 2025, including four in the Falkland Islands, followed by Africa and Europe with 17 and seven FPSOs, respectively.