In early-May 2019, state company ANCAP officially launched a new biannual open round process called Uruguay Open Round with six blocks offshore and five blocks onshore. In addition to areas that were previously offered in the last Uruguay Round 3 offshore round in 2018, the new licensing round also offers parcels that cover several recently relinquished offshore blocks in the south, along with onshore blocks in the north which cover areas that previously have been offered in their own open round process since 2014. The exploratory period reportedly will have a term of up to 11 years, with no drilling commitment in the first and second phase (the first six years), then followed by 30 years of exploitation period with possibility of a ten-year extension. The round will be open continuously, with offers opened at the end of the month in May and November of every year. Interested companies will need to qualify one month prior to the deadline for the submission of bids and submit a bid with their proposed work program for the first exploration period, profit oil split with the Uruguayan government, and ANCAPâs association percentage.    In offshore, Uruguay Open Round will be offering six new blocks with water depths ranging from 50 m to over 4,000 m in the Pelotas, Rio Salado, and the margin of Argentina Basin. These blocks covered all 17 of the former bid blocks from the last Round 3 bid round, in addition to areas that were recently relinquished by Total (Area 14) and Shell (Area 8, 9, and 13). OFF-1 block includes a couple of plugged & abandoned wells drilled by Chevron in 1976, while OFF-6 block includes the most recently drilled Raya 1 well that was P&Aâd by Total in 2016.          Uruguay Open Round   (offshore)             Block Name         Main Basin         Area (sqkm)             OFF-1         Rio Salado Basin         14,581             OFF-2         Pelotas Basin         11,151             OFF-3         Pelotas Basin         13,265             OFF-4         Rio Salado Basin         10,000             OFF-5         Pelotas Basin         16,848             OFF-6         Pelotas Basin         16,519        Â   Meanwhile for onshore, ten available open areas in Chaco-Parana Basin that have been offered in an open round since 2014 were combined and rearranged into five new blocks for this new licensing round. Each of the new onshore area included at least one P&Aâd new-field wildcat well from the 1930âs and the 1980âs, except ON-3 block which had no NFW wells and only stratigraphic wells from 2012 and 2013.           Uruguay Open Round (onshore)                Block Name         Main Basin         Area (sqkm)             ON-1         Chaco-Parana Basin         5,021             ON-2         Chaco-Parana Basin         4,424             ON-3         Chaco-Parana Basin         4,668             ON-4         Chaco-Parana Basin         3,862             ON-5         Chaco-Parana Basin         2,914        Â   More information regarding the Uruguay Open Round can be obtained by contacting ANCAP at info@rondauruguay.gub.uy .  Background Information  According to reports in June 2018, Uruguayan Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining was considering an open round process to offer the countryâs offshore blocks after the Uruguay Round 3 offshore round was declared with no bids received. Meanwhile, the country also has been offering opportunities on its onshore blocks through an open door round process since 2014, although no offers have ever been received since it was launched.
In early-May 2019, state company ANCAP officially launched a new biannual open round process called Uruguay Open Round with six blocks offshore and five blocks onshore.