Bridas Corporation is an Argentine independent oil and gas holding company based in Buenos Aires. Since March 2010 it is 50% owned by

China National Offshore Oil Corporation China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC Group (), is the third-largest national oil companies, national oil company in China, after CNPC (parent of PetroChina) and China Petrochemical Corporation (parent of Sinopec). The CNOOC Group ...

Operations

Bridas Corporation was founded by the Bulgheroni family in 1948, and grew to become the second-largest producer of fossil fuels in Argentina (after the state-owned

YPF YPF S.A. (, formerly ; English: "Fiscal Oilfields") is a vertically integrated, majority state-owned Argentine energy company, engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, and the transportation, refining, and marketing of gas and pe ...

), with production of over 78 million

boe Boe, BOE or BoE may refer to: Arts, media and entertainment * Bastards of Evil, a comic book supervillain team * '' Blades of Exile'', a computer role-playing game * ''Boletín Oficial del Estado'', official gazette of the Spanish government Org ...

in 2004.Gas & Oil: Argentina's Bridas eyes $ 5 bn oil asset sale
/ref> Bridas has focused in the South America Southern Cone and Central Asia. Its activities includes four principal areas of operations: * exploration and development of oil and gas reserves and the production of oil and gas; * marketing and transportation of oil, gas and oil products; * gathering, treatment, processing and distribution of gas and power generation; * drilling and well services.

Trans-Afghanistan pipeline controversy

Bridas began expanding into the

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

n energy sector in 1987, and secured its first large-scale contract (gas exploration rights in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

), in 1992.''World Press Review'': Timeline of Competition between Unocal and Bridas for the Afghanistan Pipeline (December 2001)
/ref> Between 1995 and 1997, CEO

Carlos Bulgheroni Carlos Alberto Bulgheroni (March 9, 1945 – September 3, 2016) was an Argentine businessman prominent in the nation's energy sector, and the country's richest man at the time of his death. Early life Carlos Bulgheroni was born in Rufino, Santa ...

was personally involved in negotiations between Bridas and the governments of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and Turkmenistan, as well as the ruling

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

faction in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, to build the Trans-Afghanistan Gas Pipeline.''Clarín'' (11/8/2005)
/ref> These negotiations were in competition with those undertaken by

Unocal Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...

,''BBC News'': Taleban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline (12/4/1997)
/ref> and although an agreement with Unocal-led corporation

CentGas Central Asia Gas Pipeline, Ltd. (CentGas) was a consortium formed in the 1990s to develop a project to build the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline from Turkmenistan's natural gas fields to Pakistan. The consortium had also considered an extension of t ...

was reached, the deal was forfeited in January 1998 in favor of one with Bridas. Instability in Afghanistan delayed construction of the pipeline. In 2006, Bulgheroni indicated interest in Bridas' involvement with the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline project, which continued to be hampered by the ongoing war in the Central Asian nation.

Pan American Energy

In 1997, Bridas and

Amoco Amoco ( ) is a brand of filling station, fuel stations operating in the United States and owned by British conglomerate BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and petroleum, oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company i ...

(now BP) established a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

named Pan American Energy. The stake of BP is 60% and the stake of Bridas is 40%. On November 28, 2010, it was announced that Bridas would acquire the BP's stake for $7.06 billion in cash. In 2011 the deal was cancelled. In September 2017, BP and Bridas agreed to merge their interests in Pan American Energy and Axion Energy to form a jointly owned Pan American Energy Group.

References

{{Reflist Oil and gas companies of Argentina Holding companies established in 1948 Privately held companies of Argentina

Operations

Trans-Afghanistan pipeline controversy

Pan American Energy

See also

References