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The Auckland-headquartered company has bid for rights to explore in five new petroleum permits covering 14,900 square kilometres in and around the Straits of Magellan.
In one of these blocks, Greymouth, or any company winning the permit, would be required to work in a joint venture with Chilean government-owned oil and gas company Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (ENAP).
Greymouth chief operating officer John Sturgess said Chile’s Magallanes Basin – the home of all of Chile’s oil and gas production – had similarities to New Zealand’s Taranaki Basin.
“Greymouth has identified gas and oil potential in the Straits of Magellan equivalent to the Turangi-Pohokura gas-condensate area in New Zealand,” Sturgess said.
The Magallanes Basin has produced more than 500 million barrels of oil and in excess of 10 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Seven companies and joint ventures – including Total, Apache and a consortium involving German company Wintershall, Bermuda’s GeoPark and Methanex – have bid for nine of the 10 blocks offered by the Chilean Government.
Bids close at the end of the month and the Chilean Government should announce the successful bidders by mid-November.
