URUGUAY | Gas and oil deposits. President José Mujica’s goal of energy self-sufficiency no longer looks like a pipe dream. Indeed Uruguay could become an energy exporter. Two recent reports by US government agencies indicated that Uruguay has potentially large and commercially viable gas deposits.
The US Geological Survey, working with the US State Department, estimated mean volumes of 13.4 trillion cubic feet (368bn cubic metres) of potential technically recoverable shale gas and 508m barrels of technically recoverable shale oil resources in the Norte basin, which straddles the northern departments of Salto, Tacuarembó, Paysandú, Artigas and Rivera, bordering Brazil.
The US Energy Information Administration estimated the potential of Uruguay’s recoverable natural gas reserves at 20.6 trillion cubic feet (588bn cubic metres), which would be the sixth largest in the region.
The US firm Schuepbach has been surveying the Norte basin for the state energy company Administracion Nacional de Combustibles, Alcoholes y Portland (Ancap) for two years. Ancap will begin exploration in Salto and Tacuarembó in December.
