MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's YPF submits copy of contract with Chevron but warns about 'confidential information'

”Confidentiality of terms had the objective of protecting geological, commercial and financial information, which have strategic value for both companies” says YPF

Argentina's oil and gas company YPF submitted a copy of the contract signed with Chevron back in 2013 for joint works at the Loma Campana field in the province of Neuquén. Still, Argentina’s state-run energy giant demanded “confidential information” not to be revealed.

 According to YPF, the agreement was not reached by the 1172/2003 decree that establishes the access to public information by the time it was signed. But a Supreme Court ruling on November 2015 said it was.

In a statement released on Tuesday, YPF said it was ratifying “the position that the agreement with Chevron had been signed within the framework of the Commercial Societies Act and that confidentiality of its terms had the objective of protecting geological, commercial and financial information, which have strategic value for both companies.”

“The confidentiality nature of those terms is an usual practice in the industry and it is part of all commercial contracts that any oil company makes in the normal course of its operations,” the document reads adding YPF “always complied with valid national and international norms” for the approval of its contracts.

The copy of the contract was submitted to the Energy Secretariat, the Energy Ministry, the Public Services and Natural Resources Department of Neuquén, the National Securities Commission (CNV) and the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States.

It the statement released today, YPF said it has to “watch over the rights of its shareholders, both public and private,” therefore finding it “worrying” that confidential information gets released, “putting the company in disadvantage facing its competitors, contractors and potential partners.”

“That is why and with attention to the nature and the commercial, industrial, technical, economic and financial value the documentation generated by YPF in the framework of the current project, it has been requested to take all the necessary measures for its correct preservation,” the text adds with the company highlighting its “firm will to comply with what it was set by the public information access decree, without prejudice to the protections set by the very same regulation regarding industrial, commercial, financial and technical matters.”