Eni Bets on Uruguay’s Offshore Potential with New Exploration Deal

November 25, 2025

Italy’s Eni has signed an agreement to acquire a 50% stake and operatorship of Uruguay’s offshore exploration block OFF-5 from Argentine state energy firm YPF, marking a new phase in the companies’ strategic partnership across the Southern Cone.

The deepwater block, which spans roughly 17,000 square kilometers about 200 kilometers off the Uruguayan coast, is regarded as one of the country’s most promising offshore prospects. Eni said the acquisition, pending approval from Uruguayan authorities, will “further strengthen its exploration portfolio” by adding high-impact acreage where its proprietary technologies can be applied to accelerate resource assessment.

The move deepens Eni’s growing cooperation with YPF, which began in Argentina and now extends to neighboring Uruguay. The two companies are already partners in Argentina’s $10 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) export initiative—known as Argentina LNG—where they are working to deploy two floating LNG units with a combined capacity of about 12 million tons per year. Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC joined that project earlier this year as a strategic investor.

YPF first signed the Uruguayan exploration contract in 2023, committing to geological evaluations and advanced 3D modeling to better map the area’s resource potential. Although Uruguay has yet to make a commercial offshore oil discovery, recent geological studies suggest that formations along its Atlantic margin share characteristics with Namibia’s Orange Basin, where several billion-barrel discoveries have been made.

Eni joins a growing roster of global firms exploring Uruguay’s offshore sector, including Shell, APA Corporation, and Challenger Energy. All seven of the country’s offshore blocks are currently under contract, reflecting renewed international interest in the region’s deepwater potential.

With this latest deal, Eni positions itself at the center of a new frontier in South American energy exploration—one that could reshape Uruguay’s role in the Atlantic oil map while deepening the Italy–Argentina energy axis.

Oilprice.com…except images