Montevideo, Uruguay
Uruguay aims to benefit from frontier fever
South American nation emerges as potentially promising new upstream province
Uruguay has awarded licenses for three more offshore blocks. And the country is hoping to benefit from comparisons of its offshore geology to rocks that have yielded recent finds in Namibia. Uruguayan state-owned oil company Ancap awarded two offshore blocks to Shell. The major's awards comprise the shallow-water OFF-2 and the deepwater OFF-7 blocks. Shell has an initial four-year exploration period and has committed to securing fresh 3D seismic surveys and resource evaluations. Ancap also awarded the deep-water block OFF-6 to US independent Apache. The award is also for an initial four-year period, but Apache has committed to more work than Shell, including the drilling of an exploratory w
Also in this section
19 March 2026
The regional crisis highlights the undervalued role of fixed pipelines in the age of tanker flexibility
18 March 2026
Rising LNG exports and AI-driven power demand have raised concerns that US gas prices could climb sharply, but analysts say abundant shale supply and continued productivity gains should keep Henry Hub within a range that preserves the competitiveness of US LNG
18 March 2026
Risks of shortages in oil products may cause world leaders to panic and make mistakes instead of letting the market do what it does best
17 March 2026
The crisis in the Middle East has put LNG’s ability to offer security and flexibility under uncomfortable scrutiny
