Caribbean and Atlantic margin-focused oil junior Challenger Energy has identified three sizeable prospects offshore Uruguay that may hold a combined 1 billion to 2 billion barrels of recoverable resources.

Uruguay has been experiencing a revival of interest by oil companies lately, as geological models suggest the Pelotas basin could have a common genesis to giant discoveries made in Namibia’s Orange basin in recent years.

In 2020, Challenger, headed by chief executive Eytan Uliel, acquired exploration rights for Block OFF-1 in the Pelotas basin, which spans about 15,000 square kilometres in water depths ranging from 50 to 1000 metres.