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The great Uruguayan land-grab

Foreign investors seem to be snapping up Uruguayan Land like there's no tomorrow.

According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, overseas buyers snapped up over a quarter of Uruguayan territory between 2000 and 2006.

So why is this South American country, sandwiched between Argentina, Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean, so attractive to foreign investors?

Agriculture minister Ernesto Agazzi, explained: "Uruguay is a small area in the broader region where buyers find better prices and political and economic stability.

"Curiously enough, for the first time we are receiving enquiries from Americans; within South America we get calls from Argentines, Brazilians and a few Colombians.

"From Europe, it is mostly Spanish real estate investors, who are facing a sharp slowdown there."

Energy boost

And investors considering buying in Uruguay will be interested to learn of a recent discovery that has underlined the country's growing international status.

Announcing the news on his website, President Tabare Vazquez revealed that Uruguay ‘may' have found a large natural gas field that would change it from an importer to an exporter of gas.

Local reports say that the field could contain as much as three trillion cubic feet (85bn cubic metres) of gas but there has not yet been any drilling. Details of the first oil and gas rights auctions are expected in December.

The auctions themselves are expected to take place in July 2009. The field was located about 150km (93 miles) off Uruguay's Atlantic coast near the city of Punta del Este, the president said.

Estimates of the volume of gas were based on seismic studies, which tend to provide very broad estimates. 

Uruguayans used an estimated 102.8m cubic metres of natural gas last year, according to CIA World Factbook. This means that if the estimates are correct, the gas field would provide for its needs for the next 827 years.