Independent oil junior Challenger Energy has been awarded another exploration licence offshore Uruguay, where the developer has been expanding its interest in the search for undiscovered resources in the Latin American frontier.

Headed by chief executive Eytan Uliel, Challenger announced on Monday that its application Area for OFF-3 licence has been formally approved by Uruguayan national regulatory agency ANCAP.

All remaining approvals, including signing of the licence paperwork, should take another three to four months, Challenger estimates, after which the four-year permit will kick off.

The Area OFF-3 licence covers 13,252 square kilometres of mostly shallow waters and adds to a number of existing holdings the independent has in Uruguayan waters. In 2020, Challenger took exploration rights for Block OFF-1 in the Pelotas basin.

With the latest award, Challenger becomes the second-largest explorer active in Uruguay, after Shell.

Area OFF-3 has an estimated resource potential of up to 500 million barrels of oil equivalent and 9 trillion cubic feet of gas.

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