Statoil moved to increase its presence offshore Colombia through two farm-in agreements with Spain’s Repsol, the Norwegian explorer announced on 4 September 2014.
Statoil will acquire a 10% stake in the Petrobras-operated Tayrona license and a 20% stake in the Repsol-operated Guajira Offshore 1 (GUA OFF-1) license. This is in addition to the 33.33% stake the company enjoys through its partnership with Repsol and ExxonMobil Exploration Colombia on the COL4 license that the group won in Colombia’s licensing round in July.
“We are gaining access to a vast underexplored frontier area through early access at scale, which is in line with Statoil’s exploration strategy,” Nick Maden, senior vice president for Statoil's exploration activities in the Western Hemisphere, said.
After the farm-outs are approved, Repsol will retain 20% interest in Tayrona, with Colombia’s state-owned oil company Ecopetrol (30%) rounding out the consortium. The Tayrona license spans 16,500sq km. In February, Petrobras announced plans to drill the Orca-1 well within the Tayrona block during 2Q 2014. The well will target the Oligocene and Miocene carbonates. Drilling operations on Orca-1 are ongoing. Water depth at the Orca-1 well is 674m, according to Repsol’s 2014 Exploration Day presentation.
Repsol will also hold a 30% stake in the GUA OFF-1 license after the farm-out. The block covers 12,200sq km and is located in 1500-3500m water depths. Ecopetrol holds the remaining 50% stake. Repsol completed 2D seismic in the GUA OFF-1 license, with 2574sq km of 3D seismic to be shot later this year, the company reported.
The COL4 license in the Caribbean Sea is operated by Repsol with 33.34% interest. Statoil and ExxonMobil each hold 33.33%. Statoil said that the initial working commitments included 2D and 3D seismic acquisition, with no well commitments planned during the exploration phase.
Map showing license areas from Statoil
Read more:
Colombia raises offshore profile
Repsol, partners win license off Colombia
Petrobras to drill offshore Colombia
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