The South Atlantic Connection: Analogies between Southern African Discoveries and the Argentina-Uruguay Margin

January 30, 2024 9:00 am - 10:30 am Webinar: Zoom

The recent deep-water discoveries (i.e., Venus and Graff) by Total, Shell, and others in the Orange Basin of Namibia triggered an exploration renaissance in the South Atlantic.  Upstream News reported in August, 2023 that the country’s top petroleum officials estimated the discoveries to hold at least 11 billion barrels of light oil and up to 8.7 trillion cubic feet of gas.

These discoveries have highlighted a new, under-explored post-rift, pre-Tertiary Cretaceous turbidite play along the Southern African Margin and its potential extension into the conjugate Southern American Margin.

Recent leasing activity offshore Brazil (Pelotas Basin) and Uruguay (Pelotas and Punta del Este Basins) resulted in several licenses awarded to Petrobras, Shell, Chevron, CNOOC, Apache Corporation, YPF, and Challenger Energy. Further south in offshore Argentina, renewed interest in the Cretaceous turbidite play resulted in several leases in the Salado, Colorado, and Rawson basins. The well on the Argerich prospect, to be drilled in deep waters of the Colorado Basin by Equinor and partners YPF and Shell, will be the first play test.

This webinar will summarize geological analogies between the emerging Cretaceous turbidite play successfully tested offshore Namibia and its conjugate Southern American Margin.

Dr. Oscar Lopez-Gamundi has over 35 years of worldwide experience in pathfinding, play trend definition, prospect generation and execution, field development, and portfolio management, with emphasis in Latin America and West Africa.

Education:
• Undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees in geology at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Experience:
• Assistant Professor in Sedimentology at the University of Buenos Aires.
• Research Associate in Macquarie University (Australia).
• Postdoctoral Researcher in the University of California at Santa Barbara.
• Various technical and managerial positions with Texaco, Chevron, and Hess.
• Vice President Exploration at C&C Energy Ltd.
• Founded P1Consultants.
• Senior Subsurface Advisor at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co.
• Senior Geologic Advisor at Ecopetrol America Inc.