Colombia's National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) received bids from four companies for just five of 19 offshore areas offered in its 2014 licensing round.
Spains's Repsol, as operator, was awarded the COL4 license, in the Caribbean Sea, with partners Statoil and ExxonMobil Exploration Colombia.
Repsol will hold 33.34% interest, with Statoil and ExxonMobil holding 33.33% each. The license award represents Statoil's entry into Colombia (map at right from Statoil).
The award is subject to final approval from the ANH.
Colombia's 2014 round had offered 95 blocks in total, 19 of which were offshore. In total, offers for 26 areas were received from 19 companies, said ANH.
"The results were positive, as 28% of blocks offered were offered," said ANH.
“Deepwater offshore Colombia is virtually untested. The award of new acreage in this frontier area is in line with our exploration strategy of early access at scale,” says Nick Maden, senior vice president for Statoil's exploration activities in the Western Hemisphere.
The entry is an early exploration phase and the initial working commitments include 2D and 3D seismic acquisition which will allow the partners to further assess the potential of the basin.
There are no well commitments during the first exploration phase.
ANH said a preliminary eligibility list will be released July 31. Publication of the final award list will be on August 11.
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