Betting on Nicaraguan oil and gas

Nicaragua is upping its bet on oil and natural gas deposits under its Pacific coast, with the award last week of a contract for the exploration of four offshore blocks in the Sandino Basin to Uruguay-based Union Oil and Gas.

Nicaragua last year awarded a contract in adjacent areas to Norway’s Statoil.

A subsidiary of Union Group, Union Oll and Gas has projects in Peru, Paraguay, and Bolivia, as well as Uruguay.

Union Group is a private company, with interests in energy, infrastructure and and real estate, including nearly 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of agricultural land in Uruguay.

Statoil, controlled by the Norwegian public, has operations in 36 countries.

One of the world’s largest oil-gas companies, Statoil last year had revenues of $56 billion.

No results are reported yet for viable oil-gas projects, including explorations started in 2013 off Nicraragua’s Caribbean coast.