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Energy deficit is Argentina has become dramatic, admits YPF CEO Galuccio

Saturday, September 14th 2013 - 01:27 UTC
Full article 26 comments

Argentina’s oil and gas corporation YPF CEO Miguel Galuccio admitted that the ‘energy deficit’ of Argentina has become a serious challenge since the country has started to face a serious shortage of light oil for refining. Read full article

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  • golfcronie

    When I was in Argentina in 1967 in Neuquen Province oil was leaking from all the nodding donkeys that I saw. It was explained to me that regular maintenance was not a high priority. Well ( notice pun here ) it does not surprise me that production is slowing. Do wish that Argentina would get it's act together. Most officials I met were all about saving face and blaming someone else. This I have to admit is largely a Latam trait. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 02:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Harry Stamper

    Now there's a surprise.

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 02:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • nigelpwsmith

    It's not a surprise that oil production is reducing rapidly. Since Repsol was booted out, the employees could not give a damn about doing their job properly. Why should they? They are not being paid as reliably, so they have no reason to do their job properly.

    We all know that oil production dwindles over time. Extraction becomes harder when the wells start drying up. Less & less is pulled out of the ground and you need to employ even more drastic measures to get the last few drops up.

    Argentina is now paying for the stupidity of the Mad Bitch in the Casa Rosada. As the domestic oil production drops, they become more dependent on foreign imports. But the Arabs want hard cash, not promissory notes that are never paid. They are fully aware of Argentina's poor credit record, their tendency to renege on contracts and refuse to pay their debts, that they want only payment up front in hard currency - preferably dollars.

    Soon, the massive pile of dollars that Argentina has stolen from their own citizens will be depleted. Argentina will have to pay the holdouts or they will be denied any further IMF help. The Supreme Court has noted TMBOA's attempts to circumvent the courts jurisdiction and they will order Bank of New York Mellon to pay NML and the others in full.

    It's likely that the inability to obtain oil supplies (except from Venezuela - who will have their own problems) and the refusal of the IMF to help, will bring about the Mad Bitches fall. When industry grinds to a halt through lack of fuel or electricity, then someone will take action to string the bitch up from the nearest lamppost - unless she's already escaped on her private jet.

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 06:16 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Conqueror

    There's an “energy deficit”? No kidding. It stems from the fact that there's a “brain deficit”. Is it possible that, at every turn, argieland figures out the “correct” action and then does the exact opposite. Let's look back. In the 30s and 40s, Peron, encouraged by Hitler, decided to “claim” nearby parts of the British Empire on the basis that Britain would lose the war. Logic would dictate that you don't “claim” British territory until Britain has lost. This sets the tone. Act on the basis of how you'd like things to be. Pay no attention to reality. Noting the failures of Peronism, argies decided to have it back. Only to see it overturned by the military. Soldiers know how to fight (though this is questionable in argieland) but not how to govern. Adopting something similar to the Roman “bread and circuses”, the junta decided to go for the Beagle Conflict and the 1978 FIFA World Cup. In 1982, Galtiera decided to put back the war against Chile in favour of going for the “pushover” Falkland Islands. Should have stuck with going to war against Chile. Instead, the UK creamed him. With so-called “democracy” returning, argieland set out to show the Falklands that it had changed. Unfortunately, being incompetent, NK gave the game away by storming off when he realised that the Falklands weren't going to let argieland gain sovereignty. Trumpeting its “peaceful” and “democratic” ideals, argieland decided to undertake economic warfare against the Falklands. Sticking with its “peaceful, democratic” theme, argieland proceeded to get every country that would listen to hear its endless whinge of lies. Regularly trotting off to the UN to spout more lies, such as “British militarisation”, it has now reached the point where one could confidently expect that an argie would be lying if suggesting that the sun comes up in the morning. More importantly, there's a “money deficit”. Argieland probably owes at least US$90 billion. It only has about US$6 billion. Disaster looms. Goody!

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 07:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ChrisR

    Galuccio should have known this was going to happen when he went to YPF, some of us knew it was inevitable that he wouldn't even be able to pay the workers at some point: we are there now.

    Coupled with this is a situation which seems to have been overlooked. It is mendacious to talk about how things have been and what they are now: You Poor (stupid) Fuckers, as it ought to be named, have failed to meet the required EXPECTED demand.

    Even in The Dark Country (soon to be a reality) more cars, more heating, etc. increases demand over what it was, good oil companies make sure they have covered this in their strategic plans. This failure MUST affect businesses ability to make more money. Oh, oh. Just spotted a flaw here: TMBOA will just thieve the additional profits “for the good of the country”.

    AND, they have the WRONG SORT OF OIL. They don’t have a heavy cracker plant! Brilliant strategic thinking going on here. Heavy crackers of course cost more money to build and result in less light sweet oil and more at the tars and plastics end of the spectrum.

    I expected Galuccio to fail after I looked at his profile when he worked for Schlumberger. He has no record of actually DOING a practical function in the oil industry – it’s all about desk jobs and advisory positions. Even well qualified professional engineers MUST be able to relate to the grunts and the cracker operators, etc if they want to get the respect and co-operation of the workforce. Remember the first photo of Galuccio “talking” to the workers? He wasn’t talking to them he was lecturing them! Their body language even came out on the photo. Being an advisor means he never really had to make decisions that actually meant anything, other people made those.

    Unless, and very soon, this situation is really gotten a grip off, You Poor Fuckers will be valueless as well as “oil-less”.

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 07:17 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • yankeeboy

    10 Years ago they said they'd run out in 10 yrs.
    So they are right on track.
    That heavy tar is hard to refine as Venezuela well knows. So they'll have to either build a refinery to handle it or export the cheap oil and import the expensive gas.
    I wonder which will happen
    hahahaha

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 08:39 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • malicious bloke

    But i thought they were meant to be all self-sufficient and autarchic and stuff?

    Lol

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 11:35 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Mr Ed

    The brave USAAF lost many men destroying Germany's oil industry in WW2. If they had parachuted in some Argie politicians they might have destroyed it more thoroughly than General Spaatz's men, with RAF and RCAF assistance. Just as well that spring is coming.

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 11:43 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Think

    Turnip at (1) says…:
    ”When I was in Argentina in 1967 in Neuquen Province oil was leaking from all the nodding donkeys that I saw. It was explained to me that regular maintenance was not a high priority…..
    Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
    I say…:
    No he is not wrong….............. however.....
    When I was in Western Europe in 1967, the rivers where dead, the rain was acid, the forests where dying and the air of most industrial areas and cities was unbreathable…..
    (And I don't want to remember how Eastern Europe looked like!)
    Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

    Turnip at (5) says…:
    “Even in Argentina more cars, more heating, etc. increases demand over what it was……”
    I say…:
    Wrong….. Argentina has increased its energy demand by ~150% in the last decade….
    Seventy-five percent (75%) of that increase is due to the Argentinean Industrial Recovery of those last 10 years….

    To the rest of the Turnips I’ll just say….:
    The oil is in our underground….
    We’ll extract it as we see fit….
    Rest assured about that….

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 11:49 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • yankeeboy

    We’ll extract it as we see fit….

    My advice is to get cracking
    First step is to remove the thieving thugs from the gov't so companies will invest.

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 11:59 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Think

    The crack expert at (10) has spoken......

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 12:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • yankeeboy

    http://www.ambito.com/noticia.asp?id=706852

    One wonders if these Rgs wash and cut their hair prior to meeting with High US Gov't Officials?
    Nobody could that that greasy sleazebag seriously in his current state of uncleanliness. That look might work with Latins but certainly not here.

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 01:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ChrisR

    @ 9 The Bitter And Twisted Old Twat Of Chew Butt.

    For once I can agree with you over the pollution in British industrial rivers and the poor quality of the air we all had to deal with. It was awful and that is a fact.

    BUT, and there is always a but, WE did something about it. Now, with the exception of the lower Thames which is awaiting the final phase of the sewer improvements (although the river is MUCH better than it used to be) the rivers in the UK are now very good indeed and the problems of pollution which are very rare nowadays are invariably due to some numpties who have allowed personally bought insect killers to enter the water course. Just recently 10 miles of one very good fishing river had ALL the insect life on the banks and the water killed by just 10 ml of this vile substance.

    Contrast that with The Dark Country! The river opposite the ROU pulp mill is the worst polluted river in the country AND it is BsAs itself that has posted that statement.

    “Argentina has increased its energy demand by ~150% in the last decade….
    Seventy-five percent (75%) of that increase is due to the Argentinean Industrial Recovery of those last 10 years….” OK but has this demand been met?

    Not sure what point you are making here. The questions are as follows:

    1) Does The Dark Country have sufficient light oil for the refineries that presently litter the country? NO!

    2) Does it have to import fuels which if YPF had made the correct decisions and had one or more heavy cracker refineries erected in a timely fashion, it would avoided the embarrassment of having to admit it couldn’t cope: YES.

    3) Does it have to import methane gas to heat the country, even though it has the world’s second largest gas field? YES.

    Given the present parlous state of the Dollar Reserves your final statement that the stuff is underground is frankly lamentable.

    It’s no good underground you old twat! Your country needs it NOW to help prevent / delay the inevitable meltdown of the “economy”

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 01:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • nigelpwsmith

    We’ll extract it as we see fit….

    That's about as clever as playing Russian Roulette with an automatic!

    Fact is that it will take years to develop an oilfield and those are years that Argentina cannot afford. There very well maybe oil in the ground, but Argentina won't see it for decades and they won't be able to import it if they cannot afford it.

    The irony is that Falklands oil will flow long before any Argentine oil does. The Falkland Islands are clever. They've studied the Norwegians and how successfully they run their oil/gas exploitation and are intent on doing the same.

    The Norwegians have a national wealth fund of $750 billion which currently owns 1% of all stocks worldwide, 2% of every business listed in Europe and a cash flow of $1 billion per week.

    By bringing in the Americans, the Falkland Islanders have ensured that not only do they have a willing customer for their oil, but also a nation which will bring the reserves on-line as soon as possible.

    Argentina managed to throw out the people who were willing to extract their oil. But they won't be able to sell the extraction contracts at anywhere near the same price - unless the middle-east is radioactive and the Chinese are desperate.

    Even so, it's highly unlikely that any new venture would yield domestic oil before it runs out and when it does, the ordinary Argentine will be forced to go abroad if they don't want to live in poverty.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24058785

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 02:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Think

    Anglo Turnip at (14) seems determined to give Scandinavian / Argentinean Mr. Think a lesson about how well Norway has managed their oil resources....

    Jupppppp............ The Norwegians have a national wealth fund of $750 billion which currently owns 1% of all stocks worldwide, 2% of every business listed in Europe and a cash flow of $1 billion per week.

    They got all that during the last forty years out of the North Sea Bassin thanks to their Social Democratic policies .......

    What does Neo Liberal England have to show for the last 40 years of oil extraction from the very same Bassin?

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 02:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Ayayay

    @15. More like their CULTURE PRIDES ITSELF ON EFFICIENCY, PRUDENCE, and SAVINGS.

    The People's Republic of North Korea is socialist. It's also the third circle of hell, with cannabalism, 200,000 + dead directly from starvation and jail for three generations of your family if you do something like speak out.

    Culture is way stronger an effect than a broad, broad, BROAD category.

    Btw, the U.S. LEASES it's mineral rights and guess what huge part of the world was in the top ten with Norway on that World Economic Efficiency report? U.S.

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 04:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • nigelpwsmith

    @15 Not-Thinking-Clearly

    With 12 times the population of Norway. the United Kingdom hasn't a national wealth fund.

    But what we did do with the money we received is:

    A) buy a Strategic nuclear weapons system which could devastate Argentina from subs located in the northern hemisphere.

    B) along with Germany, shoulder a major amount of the money needed to keep the European Union alive for the past 40 years

    Oh and

    C) kick the crap out of Argentina in 1982 and show the rest of the world that they are complete scumbags!

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 04:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • british bomber

    But nml have tried to seize tango 1 in America before. Any way there's only enough assets for nml. What about the majority of bond holders.

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 06:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Captain Poppy

    The turnip in charge says:

    To the rest of the Turnips I’ll just say….:
    The oil is in our underground….
    We’ll extract it as we see fit….
    Rest assured about that….

    I ask:

    How do you see it being extracted?
    What is it you are waiting for?
    Why has the refining of Argentina's best declined?
    Why with such rich resources Argentina STILL cannot get ahead?

    Sep 14th, 2013 - 06:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • golfcronie

    @9
    “ When I was in western Europe in 1967”, yes THINK you are correct, but we HAVE MOVED ON but Argentina HAS NOT. I really, honestly feel sorry for the Argentinian population, but you brought it on yoursekves, after all you voted your Government in.

    Sep 15th, 2013 - 06:15 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • bushpilot

    Wouldn't he be bringing this problem up after the October elections?

    Why is he disclosing this at this time?

    Is he trying to blunt the impact of some catastrophe looming on the horizon?

    Is he turncoating and trying to sabotage CFK's party?

    Sep 15th, 2013 - 11:43 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Conqueror

    @9 ”Argentina has increased its energy demand by ~150% in the last decade….
    Seventy-five percent (75%) of that increase is due to the Argentinean Industrial Recovery of those last 10 years“.
    Let's just use logic on that statement. If the figures have been quoted correctly, it means that 112.5% of the increased energy demand is due to the ”industrial recovery“. So that ”industrial recovery“ is about to go back ten years. Can't be good. Haven't we already seen factories closing because they can't get the power? And when there has to be a choice between heating and lighting homes or operating farm machiney, transportation, electronic systems? Even that Vaca Muerta oil field needs power for the drills and high pressure pumps!
    @18 ”What about the majority of bond holders“. What about them? They aren't the holdouts' problem. If they want some advice then I would suggest that they take legal advice on whether a contract enabled under ”force majeure“ is valid. Remember that Nestor K didn't ”negotiate” the restructuring, he made the bondholders an offer and told them they had to accept it or get nothing. That's duress. A competent court could rule that the whole restructuring was illegal. Wouldn't that be a pleasant surprise for argieland? Logic says the whole of the original debt would reappear. About US$85.56 billion, I believe.

    Sep 15th, 2013 - 12:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ChrisR

    21 bushpilot

    Just remember where he made the statement: HOUSTON!

    I think that Galuccio realised from the beginning that lying was the forte of TMBOA, something the oil industry will not tolerate with the amount of money at stake.

    So basically, “fuck TMBOA, I have to say it how I see it if I am ever going to get help: because TMBOA isn't going to give me any”.

    So what has he got to lose, he has a golden goodbye locked into his contract. Oh, Oh, just spotted a potential problem there!

    LOL

    Sep 15th, 2013 - 12:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • yankeeboy

    21. I guarantee the avg Rg has no idea they could potentially out of fuel shortly.
    This is a whole country/culture that doesn't plan for their future or care about it. They live for the day because most likely the future will be worse than what it is presently.
    And they are usually right
    The rich people can always leave if it gets bad, the poor already have miserable lives that they know will never change and the middle class know that their kids will be poorer and dumber then they are.

    So the short of it is they don't care.

    Sep 15th, 2013 - 12:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • MagnusMaster

    @24 “The rich people can always leave if it gets bad, the poor already have miserable lives that they know will never change and the middle class know that their kids will be poorer and dumber then they are.”

    Depressing isn't it?

    Sep 15th, 2013 - 12:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • golfcronie

    @22 U$S 85 billion in 2001, with 12 yrs interest it is now ?????
    No proplem for CFK she won't be in charge. I think the idea is to cream of the cream and let the next joker pick up the pieces.

    Sep 15th, 2013 - 03:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0

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