Wintershall Energía S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Kassel-based Wintershall, has been awarded the exploration permit for the Ranquil Norte area by the Mendoza province through decree N° 821.

Wintershall has 50% participating interest and is the operator of the area with Total Austral S.A. as its partner holding the remaining 50%.

The area is in the southernmost region of the Mendoza province, Argentina, and covers an area of 2.2 sq km.

Since 2002, field and lab work has been performed by Wintershall over the whole surface, including geology mapping, geochemical analysis, geological modeling and 2D seismic interpretation. These evaluations indicate that the Ranquil Norte block has potential to explore and develop conventional and unconventional reservoirs, shale gas and shale oil.