BUENOS AIRES, May 17 (Reuters) - Argentina awarded permitsfor hydrocarbon exploration in 18 areas off its southern coastto companies including Exxon Mobil Corp, Total SA, YPF SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc,the government said on Friday.
The winning companies offered bids totaling $724 million,the government said in official statements, and won the rightsto explore for up to 13 years in areas of the South Atlantic,some near the Malvinas Islands under the control of the Britishgovernment but whose sovereignty is claimed by Argentina.
The other companies that will make up exploration consortiain Argentina's Malvinas West basin include BP, QatarPetroleum, Tullow Oil, Pluspetrol, Wintershall, Equinor, Eni, Mitsui &Co Ltd and Tecpetrol SA.
Offshore exploration could boost Argentina's reserves, whichfell in the last decade due to regulations that discouragedforeign investment in the energy sector. President MauricioMacri has sought to increase energy output. In 2018, 18 percentof the country's gas production came from offshore areas.
The government will issue the permits between June andAugust, giving the companies up to 13 years to explore thedeepest areas, and 11 years for the concessions closest to thecoast, the economy ministry said in a statement.
"Activities will include drilling at least two wells, andduring the lifetime of these permits the companies can apply fora 35-year production license for these areas," it said.
The biggest bid was for the MLO-115 block of the WestMalvinas basin, at $105.97 million from a consortium made up ofTullow, Pluspetrol and Wintershall, the ministry said.
(Reporting by Jorge Otaola and Walter Bianchi; Writing byCassandra Garrison and Mitra Taj; Editing by Marguerita Choy andTom Hogue)