La Cortez Energy has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Petroleos del Norte, a subsidiary of Petrolatina, which entitles La Cortez to a 50% net working interest in the Putumayo-4 block located in the south of Colombia.
The Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (ANH), Colombia’s hydrocarbon regulatory agency, has confirmed that Petroleos del Norte (Petronorte) was the successful bidder in the Colombia Mini Round 2008 on the Putumayo-4 block.
According to the memorandum of understanding (MoU), La Cortez will enter into a farm-in agreement with Petronorte relating to the Putumayo-4 block in the near future. It is expected that Petronorte will sign an exploration and production (E&P) contract with ANH in early 2009.
The Putumayo-4 block covers an extension of 51,333 hectares located in the Putumayo Basin just south of Gran Tierra’s Costayaco oil discovery in the Chaza Block and has over 400km of pre-existing 2D seismic through which La Cortez and Petronorte have identified promising leads, said the company.
Under the proposed terms of the E&P contract with ANH, La Cortez and Petronorte will capture 103km of 2D seismic and will drill an exploratory well in the first three years of their work program.
La Cortez Energy is an oil and gas exploration and production company currently pursuing a business strategy in the energy sector in South America, with an initial focus on identifying oil and gas exploration and production opportunities in Colombia.