The supposed “economic salvation” promised by offshore oil exploration in the Argentine Sea has begun to crumble. Recently, the National Energy Secretariat confirmed the cancellation of exploration permits in blocks CAN 107 and CAN 109, located about 300 kilometers off the coast of Mar del Plata.
With this decision, the exploration rights—originally granted in 2019 to Shell Argentina and Qatar Energy—have returned to the State, marking the failure of a narrative that promised development and foreign exchange without solid technical support.
A model questioned from its origin
The abandonment of these blocks adds to a series of setbacks in the industry, including the precedent of the “dry well” in the Argerich block and the return of areas by other companies such as Total and BP.
These events confirm that the projected revenues never had the real capacity to transform the country’s energy matrix, being rather a speculative business aimed at valuing transnational shares.
The damages of oil exploration
Beyond economic unfeasibility, the model of expanding the hydrocarbon frontier concealed severe risks:
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Acoustic impact: The exploratory phase uses low-frequency sound bombardments for geological profiling, causing irreversible physical and behavioral damage to marine biodiversity.
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Democratic weakness: Social and technical warnings were ignored, and the necessary Strategic Environmental Assessment was omitted, limiting citizen participation in public hearings.
Towards a real alternative
For the signing organizations, the departure of the companies does not repair the damage, but dismantles the discourse that offshore oil is the path to development. In a context of climate crisis, such projects are not only unfeasible but also consolidate a dependence on extractive activities with a high ecological cost.
The current challenge, according to socio-environmental collectives, is to abandon the logic of extractive promises and build alternatives that do not compromise the sea, the territories, or the well-being of future generations.
Signing organizations (fragment):
Assembly for a Sea Free of Oil Companies (Mar del Plata, Necochea, Villa Gesell), Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers, Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN), South Oil Observatory (OPSur), among others.
