GeoPark Activates 25-Year Bare Contract and Funds All Approved Capital Expenditures
Key Facts
GeoPark announced on November 2, 2026, that the production-sharing contract for Venezuela’s Bare block had taken effect for 25 years, alongside the completion of a share issuance to the Gilinski Group. The contract makes the company the operator and grants it a 65% net participating interest, with GeoPark to fund 100% of capital expenditures under approved work programs. It also allows the company to market oil directly and access critical infrastructure. The company said the contract became effective after key contractual and regulatory milestones were completed, ahead of the 120-day deadline set out in the contract. The transaction has now moved into preparations for handover and operations, after the October update had targeted closing by the end of the fourth quarter of 2026.
Steps completed before the contract took effect included approval of the final development and work plan, supplementary agreements with Petróleos de Venezuela, and the required permits, according to GeoPark’s announcement. In its October 15 update, the company said it was assessing the field, planning to reactivate wells, and reviewing facilities and infrastructure. It now targets completing the operational handover before the end of 2026, with financial consolidation of Bare’s assets to begin after it obtains operational control. The company has assessed around 300 to 400 wells for reactivation, according to its latest announcement. Chief Executive Felipe Bayon said the focus was now shifting to operational execution, “starting with a safe and orderly handover.”
The first phase of redevelopment will begin with stabilizing production, reactivating wells and carrying out maintenance and repair work, as well as rehabilitating infrastructure, the company said. In addition to operating the block, the contract requires GeoPark to fund all approved capital expenditures, while its 65% net participating interest gives it a share of the block’s production. The company describes Bare as a producing heavy-oil asset in the Orinoco Belt, with an existing operating base. In its September 2 announcement, it estimated original oil in place at around 15.7 billion barrels and current gross production at around 11,000 barrels per day. It also cited around 1,100 wells and historical cumulative production of more than 700 million barrels, while production had exceeded 100,000 barrels per day in previous periods.
GeoPark’s ambitions for redeveloping the field go beyond maintaining current production: its plan targets around 400 million barrels of net cumulative production for the company. It also says the plan could raise the field’s recovery factor from 4–5% to a range of 8–9%. These targets are linked to well reactivation, maintenance work and infrastructure rehabilitation, as described for the first phase. The contract combines operation of an asset with a production history and capital spending to be fully funded by GeoPark under approved programs. The next step therefore depends on operational control transferring to the company, the condition it linked to the start of financial consolidation of the asset.
Alongside activation of the contract, GeoPark issued 42,135,872 common shares to an entity affiliated with the Gilinski Group in exchange for the remaining 95% stake in C.B.P. Holdo. The company said the consideration was paid in shares and did not include a cash payment for the acquisition. Following the issuance, the Gilinski Group will own around 56.3% of outstanding shares, making it the company’s largest shareholder. The agreement gives the group the right to nominate at least five board members as long as it owns at least 50% of outstanding shares. At least two of its five nominees must be independent, under the agreement’s terms.
The transaction also requires the Gilinski Group to launch a tender offer within 90 days of closing, at $12.22 per share and for an aggregate value of up to $100 million. The offer had not begun when the company announced the deal on November 2. GeoPark may issue up to 5,421,589 additional shares to the group if specified milestones are met, potentially raising its ownership to around 58.4%. The company extended the deadline for achieving those milestones to December 1, 2026. These terms sit alongside the board nomination rights and the Gilinski Group’s current stake, while the tender offer remains a future step tied to the announced deadline.
GeoPark aims for Bare, alongside production growth in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta region, to drive its expansion over the coming years. The company said production could reach 75,000–85,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030, or around 2.7 times current levels. But Bare was not part of the company’s production in the third quarter of 2026: its consolidated average production then was 27,973 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up 2.6% from the second quarter, when it recorded 27,271 barrels per day. The company attributed the quarterly increase to production from blocks in Colombia and the start-up of a platform in Vaca Muerta. GeoPark shares closed at $10.88 on October 30, compared with $10.82 in the previous session.