Days after Portugal’s National Authority for Fuel announced that it was offering new exploration blocs onshore and at sea off Oporto and the Algarve coastlines to the highest bidder, an Australian company has already signed up.
The Australis Oil & Gas got the go-ahead from the government to explore for oil and natural gas in the Batalha and Pombal fields in the Lusitanian Basin.
Australis signed the contract with the government to explore for oil and natural gas onshore with director Ian Lusted, commenting that Australis Oil & Gas has found that there is natural gas potential in these blocs, but that "it is now necessary to find out if we can make this into a commercial project."
"We hope in the coming years to be producing oil and natural gas in Portugal," said Lusted.
Australis Oil & Gas is based in Perth in Australia and was created by the founders of Aurora Oil & Gas from Australia which was bought by the Canadian company Baytex in 2014 for §2.4 billion.
"It is a solid company, with technical, financial and experience in exploration activities and oil exploration, and future onshore activities in Portugal is an important part of its strategy," according to the statement released by the National Authority for Fuel.
"Australis will bring good operating practices to Portugal and the same safety and environmental protection that has been applied in other regions of the world," says the regulator.
Menawhile the Australian company First State Wind Energy Investments has shaken hands on a €900 million deal to take over the wind farms owned by the Portuguese subsidiary of the Italian company Enel.
The deal involves the farms and shares two other green energy companies, Eólicas de Portugal and Empreendimentos Eólicos do Vale do Minho.
The transaction was part of a five-year strategic plan to “seize opportunities in countries with greater development potential”, said a source from Enel.
