Argentina’s oil and gas YPF and Dow Chemical Co. Argentine unit signed a final accord to invest 188 million dollars to jointly develop shale gas at the country’s Vaca Muerta formation, in the Patagonian province of Neuquen.
Germany’s Wintershall sealed a 150 million dollar unconventional exploration contract with the Argentine province of Neuquén’s owned Gas y Petroleo de Neuquén to search for oil in the Vaca Muerta formation. The agreement could later be extended to 3.35bn.
The Vaca Muerta formation in the Argentine provinces of Neuquén and Mendoza has been ranked among the 23 highest tight oil reserve areas in the world, according to to a report released yesterday by global information company IHS.
The Argentine Patagonian province of Neuquén legislature approved by a comfortable majority the agreement struck between YPF and Chevron to exploit the Vaca Muerta shale gas reserves, after a day disrupted by fierce protests outside the provincial parliament.
With the imminent eruption of Copahue volcano, the governor of Neuquén, Jorge Sapag, said that, the volcano will have the last word, and has asked to wait 72 hours, as the specialists recommended, not to give rise to false expectations amongst the evacuees.
After the Copahue volcano on the Neuquén provincial Andean border with Chile began spewing smoke due to an increase in seismic activity, a red alert was issued by Chilean authorities ordering the full evacuation of an estimated 3,000 people.
Chilean and Argentine authorities declared a red alert and ordered the mandatory evacuation of a 25-km radius around the active Copahue volcano, which straddles the border between the two Andean nations.
Argentina's recently nationalized oil and gas producer YPF SA and the US Chevron Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore for unconventional energy in Vaca Muerta, in the Patagonian province of Neuquen.
Brazilian oil giant Petrobras assured that it has complied with all terms of its Argentine Patagonia Neuquén province oil exploitation contract, following provincial governor Jorge Sapag's announcement of the termination of the concession contract in Veta Escondida area.
The governor of hydrocarbon-rich Neuquen Province wants to convince Argentina's government it can get all the natural gas it needs from Neuquen and doesn't need to spend billions to import the fuel from Qatar.