Nicaragua is still committed to get its own oil.
The Canadian Union Oil & Gas Group Corp. joined the Nicaraguan Petroleum Company S.A. (PETRONIC) and the Norwegian company STATOIL to look for oil in an area of 30,000 square kilometers of the Pacific. The scans will begin soon in Sandino Basin.
Union Oil is present in Toronto, Montevideo and Lima. However, it maintains exploration sites in offshore blocks of Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and Colombia.
In May 2015, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega granted oil exploration guarantees with PETRONIC and STATOIL for 6 years of oil exploration in waters of the Pacific and the Atlantic. The total investment in 3 phases will amount to $ 20 million.
Costa Rica and Nicaragua maintain a dispute at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for maritime boundaries. Therefore, the Costa Rican government is suspicious of the exploration concessions granted by its counterpart and complains that Nicaragua bid Costa Rican sea blocks, both in the Pacific and the Caribbean, for oil exploration and exploitation, without having clear border limits.
The Foreign Ministry’s counsel, Arnoldo Brenes, said that the Costa Rican sea blocks offered in concession by Nicaragua reached 20,000 km2 in the Pacific and 15,000 km² in the Caribbean Sea and they do not recognize the rights granted to STATOIL over those spaces.
Costa Rica will continue to guard its sovereignty in marine areas that belong to this country, under international law, for which it will exercise diplomatic actions that are convenient,”
added the ministry.
Union Oil is owned by Uruguayan Juan Sartori, who is related to energy, agricultural and infrastructure businesses, among others.