New Paraguay upstream licensing round underway

Undeterred by lackluster results from previous calls, Paraguay’s state oil company Petropar has again launched an open round for upstream hydrocarbons acreage.

The latest process is for blocks Petropar II (6,340km2), Petropar IV (8,006km2) and Petropar V (7,954km2), which drew no bids the last time the areas were offered in 2020, following failed rounds in 2017 and 2018.

Read Paraguay upstream hydrocarbons push suffers new setback

As before, the government looks to award prospection, exploration and production contracts under the production-sharing model.

The minimum prospection and exploration program includes reprocessing and reinterpreting geophysical data, acquiring 500km of 2D seismic and drilling one well.

Winners will initially have one year to carry out prospecting work, four years for exploration and 20 years for production

Letters of interest and qualification documents are due by July 29 and qualifiers will be notified by August 30. Proposals would then be due by August 31, the same day of their opening, with a decision expected by November 30, according to reference terms.

BNamericas has highlighted that efforts to tap Paraguay’s oil and natural gas resources have not moved beyond exploration due to the frontier, high-risk nature of plays, and well-established, neighboring upstream markets, and now further challenged by the energy transition.

In recent months, there has been a legislative push to add new impetus to upstream activity.

Read Paraguay lawmaker keeps upstream hydrocarbons flame lit and Oil and gas production projects in Chaco declared of interest

One of the few operators with acreage in the country is President Energy, which said on Tuesday that it plans to spud it first exploration well on the Pirity concession this year.

A map featuring Paraguay's hydrocarbons upstream areas as of June, including acreage holders, is available here.