Wintershall wins new licenses

Wintershall is stepping up its activities in Argentina: the wholly owned BASF subsidiary has been awarded two exploration licenses in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin in Central Argentina after successfully bidding in the international licensing round E-01/92 “Plan Argentina”. A contract for the areas CCA-1 (Gan-Gan) and CGSJ-V/A in the province of Chubut was signed to this effect.

Wintershall Energía S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Wintershall Holding AG in Kassel, will have a 50 percent share and will be the operating company. Repsol YPF is the other consortium partner. The two blocks have a surface area measuring around 20,000 square kilometers. First preliminary geological and geophysical studies were already completed for this area between 2002 and 2004. 2-D seismic surveys to define the parameters of future drilling projects are planned for the next three years.

By acquiring and operating the new blocks in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin we are enlarging our portfolio in the core region South America, explained Dr. Ties Tiessen, Member of the Board of Executive Directors of Win¬tershall Holding AG responsible for production. Wintershall has already invested more than 900 million US dollars in Argentina. In addition, Germany’s largest producer of crude oil and natural gas is planning further investments of 250 million US dollars in Argentina over the next five years.

Source : http://www.wintershall.com/