TotalEnergies, Wintershall extend Argentinian concession: press
TotalEnergies unit Total Austral, Wintershall Dea and Pan American Sur have received a 10-year extension for their gas concession in Argentina's Austral basin, pledging $700mn of investments to reach output of 20mn m3/day, Reuters reported April 19.
The 1,900 km2 concession in the Austral has been extended from 2031 to 2041. TotalEnergies and Wintershall both have 37.5% equity stakes in the concession, while Pan American Sur has 25%. Royalty payments to Buenos Aires are fixed at 15% of gas flows when the extension starts in 2031.
"This extension request made by the exploration concessionaires is based on the need to have a longer time frame, given the complexity and high costs involved in the exploitation of offshore oil and gas," said a government decree cited by Reuters.
Total Austral's net production in 2021 amounted to 209,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day. The division, active in the Tierra del Fuego and Neuquen Basin regions, is the Argentinian upstream's second biggest player with operated production of more than 30.1mn m3/day.