Hector De Santa Ana News

Uruguay Eyes Extending Oil Exploration Contracts

Uruguay is considering extending the length of its oil exploration contracts with foreign companies drilling in its waters in order to shore up investment at a time of plunging crude prices, it said on Wednesday. BP, BG Group, Total, a joint venture of Tullow Oil and Inpex, and a consortium of YPF, Royal Dutch Shell and Galp all have exploration agreements with the South American country and have invested around $2 billion to date. But the recent fall in oil prices has made exploration in Uruguay unattractive, Hector de Santa Ana, exploration manager at state oil and gas company Ancap, said in an interview. "The (current) prices don't tally with any kind of prospect on our maritime shelf," he said.