Corporate

Wintershall Dea is reshuffling its upstream portfolio in Latin America by exiting Brazil and trimming its presence in the Vaca Muerta Shale play in Argentina. The move highlight the company's strategic shift in favor of natural gas, which now accounts for around 70% of its portfolio. The German independent is downsizing its global presence to 12 countries. It has previously indicated that its annual production for 2021 will fall to around 620,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 650,000 boe/d in 2020. Wintershall pushed into Latin America in 2014, seeking growth opportunities in Argentina's Vaca Muerta Shale play and entering Brazil's offshore via bid rounds in 2018 and 2019. Like its industry peers, however, the company has become more selective about upstream activity amid expectations that oil demand will start to decline in the 2030s — and amid growing pressure to align its growth aspirations with the Paris climate goals. Wintershall is exiting Brazil, where it holds interests in nine exploration blocks, including three operated oil-prone blocks in the northern Potiguar Basin and one in the Ceara Basin. In Argentina, Wintershall is selling its 50% stake in the Aguada Federal and Bandurria Norte oil blocks in the Vaca Muerta Shale play to Mexico's Vista Oil & Gas for $140 million. Vista also recently acquired ConocoPhillips' 50% stake in the same blocks.