BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 26. Eni said on Monday it signed an agreement to acquire a 50% stake and operatorship in Uruguay’s offshore Block OFF-5 from Argentina’s YPF, expanding the Italian energy group’s deepwater exploration portfolio, Trend reports.
The deal will take effect once approved by Uruguayan authorities.
Block OFF-5 spans 16,883 square kilometres in water depths of 800 to 4,100 metres, about 200 km off Uruguay’s coast. The acreage, currently operated by MIWEN, a wholly owned YPF subsidiary, is in its first exploration phase and lies in an unexplored section of the Atlantic Margin with geological similarities to established petroleum basins.
Eni said the block offers “highly prospective” potential and fits its strategy of combining near-field and infrastructure-led opportunities with selected high-impact exploration targets, where the company aims to deploy its proprietary technologies to accelerate development and value creation.
The agreement deepens cooperation between Eni and YPF, which have recently signed several deals linked to Argentina’s integrated upstream-midstream project, Argentina LNG (ARGLNG). YPF has chosen Eni as its strategic partner for one phase of ARGLNG and now as preferred operator for exploration projects in Uruguay.