May 14 (Reuters) - Guyana's government on Tuesday signed an agreement giving Spanish oil company Repsol rights to explore for crude off the South American nation's coast.
The company signed a four-year deal to explore the Kanuku Block, an area approximately 6,525 kilometers (4,055 miles) that is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) off Guyana's coast.
"We're very pleased to work with the Government of Guyana and we're very committed to the exploration of Guyana territorial waters," said Repsol's Jose Murillas, Regional Exploration Director for North Latin America, after signing the accord with Guyanese President Donald Ramotar.
Repsol will be partnering with British exploration company Tullow Oil and hopes to complete a well by 2015.
In July, the Repsol-operated Jaguar-1, a well that was being drilled offshore, ceased operations because of safety concerns.
A poor former British colony, Guyana does not produce oil and relies on imports to meet fuel needs, but hopes the new offshore exploration efforts will change that.
The northeastern shoulder of South America has become a new frontier for oil exploration, with a large discovery off nearby French Guiana and a bidding round off the coast of northern Brazil bringing new attention from global oil firms.
Last year, Tullow made a big oil discovery to the east of Guyana, off the coast of French Guiana, and it hopes to prove its geological theory that the oil-rich west African rocks of Ghana will be replicated across the Atlantic in South America.
A Brazilian auction for oil blocks in the northeastern Parnaiba basin and offshore blocks in the Foz do Amazonas basin, further down the South American coast from Guyana, drew strong interest from global energy companies on Tuesday.
