Wintershall Dea to end Brazil operations

In Brazil, Wintershall Dea holds participating interests in a total of nine exploration licences, spread over the Potiguar, Ceará, Campos and Santos basins, which were awarded to the company in bidding rounds in 2018 and 2019. The company has no remaining minimum work commitments in the licences or other material financial obligations.

"This decision is the result of a very thorough analysis of our global portfolio and evaluation of individual projects and how they fit with our long-term strategy," Thilo Wieland, Member of the Wintershall Dea Board, responsible for the regions Russia, Latin America and Transportation, explained.

The company has also reached an agreement with Vista on the sale of its 50% interest including operatorship in the unconventional Aguada Federal and Bandurria Norte blocks in the Argentine province of Neuquén. Vista had only recently acquired the 50% share of ConocoPhillips in the concessions and now holds 100% of the shares in the blocks. The transaction is retroactive to 1 January 2022.

"Argentina is and remains an important core country for Wintershall Dea's gas production in our global portfolio," Wieland explained. "With the sale of our interests in Aguada Federal and Bandurria Norte, we are focusing our activities in Argentina on gas production. Here we have a strong position in the country, with projects in Tierra del Fuego and Neuquén, that contribute significantly to Argentina’s energy supply," said Wieland.

Wintershall Dea's total production in Argentina averaged 66 700 boe/d in the first nine months of 2021, 92% of which was natural gas. Argentina's share of the company's total global production was around 11% in the same period.

In Neuquén, Wintershall Dea is engaged in a continuous production drilling programme in the dry gas Aguada Pichana Este block in the Neuquén basin, together with its partners TotalEnergies, YPF, and Pan American Energy. In Tierra del Fuego, Wintershall Dea is a partner in the "Cuenca Marina Austral 1" offshore concession, from whose fields about 16% of Argentina's natural gas is produced. "We will focus on the further development of this important gas cluster in the south of the country, which offers a promising future project with Fenix," Wieland said. Fenix is an offshore gas field to be developed, located about 60 km offshore Tierra del Fuego, northeast of the producing Vega Pleyade field.

Wintershall Dea, together with operator TotalEnergies and partner Pan American Energy is working to progress the Fenix development towards a Final Investment Decision.

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