Chevron Oil Discovery in Rio Negro, Argentina
"This is great news coming so soon after our acquisition of San Jorge," said Dick Matzke, a director of Chevron Corp. and president of Chevron Overseas Petroleum Inc. "It confirms the view we formed before our acquisition of San Jorge of the company's exciting growth potential."
This find is the seventh since January 1999, in the vicinity of the Loma Negra Field, discovered in 1997. Potential reserves from the Loma Negra Field complex are now estimated to be 240 million boe, constituting the most significant addition to Argentina's petroleum reserve base in the last eight years.
"This latest discovery is another example of the quality of San Jorge's exploration portfolio and a testament to their technical expertise," said Bill Edman, managing director of Chevron Latin America. "The employees deserve great credit for this string of exploration successes."
Chevron Corp. acquired 100% of Petrolera Argentina San Jorge on Sept. 27, 1999. San Jorge's recent production increases have moved the company toward being one of the top producers in Argentina with gross operated daily production of approximately 78, 000 bbl of oil and 40 million cf of gas, accounting for 8% of the oil production in Argentina.
San Jorge has potential reserves of over 400 million boe. It owns a 14% equity interest in Oldeval, the major export pipeline to the Atlantic coast. Additional export access is through the Transandino pipeline to the Pacific coast, making San Jorge Argentina's second largest petroleum exporter.
The company has a strong acreage position in Argentina's prolific Neuquen Basin and controls significant acreage in the Austral Basin in southern Argentina. In addition, it has 5 million acres of exploration acreage in key petroleum basins in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Brazil.
Partners in the block are San Jorge (37.5%), Repsol-YPF (35%), the International Finance Corp. (15%) and Metro Holding S.A. (12.5%).