MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

YPF manages significant increases in output and profits in the third quarter

“We are meeting our goals and continue to show results that line up with our plan for the next five years,” said YPF CEO Miguel Galuccio.

Argentina's state-controlled oil firm YPF hydrocarbons' production in the third quarter increased by 15.4% from a year earlier to 573,000 b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d). The rise in production translates into a 13.9% increase from a year earlier for the first nine months of the year to 553,000 boe/d.

 Crude production climbed by 4.6% to 246,000 b/d, while gas production increased by 26.1% to 44.9mn m³/d. Natural gas liquid output (NGLs) also increased, after having seen a fall in the first six months of the year, with production rising by 18.3% in the third quarter to 44,600 b/d. This includes the natural gas assets bought from US independent Apache in a deal finalized in February.

“We are meeting our goals and continue to show results that line up with our plan for the next five years,” said YPF chief executive Miguel Galuccio.

YPF's unconventional production for the third quarter averaged 31,900 boe/d, of which 18,900 b/d is crude and 6,000 b/d is NGLs. This is up from the average 23,200 boe/d recorded in the second quarter.

YPF's total investment increased by 71.6% from a year earlier in the third quarter to 13.78bn pesos ($1.62bn). Upstream investment rose by 67.4%, while downstream investment increased by 81.2%.

YPF drilled 40 unconventional wells during the third quarter in Loma Campana, located in the Vaca Muerta formation, where the company has a 50:50 joint venture with Chevron. There are now almost 270 producing wells in the shale-prone formation, the company said.

The average domestic gas price for YPF rose by 10pc in the third quarter to $4.28/mn Btu. YPF processed 299,000 b/d across its refineries in the third quarter, a 2.4% increase from the same period last year. The refinery utilization rate was at 94%, up from 91% in last year's third quarter.

Likewise YPF's third-quarter profit was 3.21bn Pesos against 1.41bn Pesos in the same period last year, beating market expectations. YPF said it had clocked up net profit of 7.549 billion pesos in the first nine months of the year. This was more than double the 3.201 billion pesos earned in the same period of 2013.

Argentina wants to accelerate output growth in order to erase the energy deficit it has been running since 2011. The company currently produces about 240,000 barrels per day of oil and about 43.5 million cubic meters of gas per day.

YPF Argentina has a 51% stake in YPF while the rest is traded on the New York stock exchange.