MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

YPF to sell Metrogas stake to focus on Vaca Muerta

Now it is the right time, Marín argued

Argentina's state-run oil company YPF announced Tuesday that it plans to sell its shares in cooking gas distributor Metrogas to invest those funds in Vaca Muerta. YPF CEO Horacio Marín also outlined before the Inter-American Council of Trade and Production (Cicyp) the strategy to increase by fourfold the company's value over the next four years.

 “We cannot sell Metrogas in a context of 2,500 country risk points, but we can sell it with a lower premium, around 900. Now, however, I believe it is” the right time, he explained. “We will sell the stake and allocate the funds to Vaca Muerta,” he added. YPF holds a 70% stake in Metrogas through its subsidiary Gas Argentina S.A. (GASA). Metrogas serves over two million customers, mainly in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA).

YPF needs to “redirect its resources and concentrate on the non-conventional oil and gas sector, especially in the Vaca Muerta region,” Marín also noted. “The goal is that by 2031 Argentina will be a net exporter for US$ 32 billion. Energy can contribute in the same way as the Pampa Húmeda [agricultural region],” Marín also argued.

“The whole energy industry has to multiply by 2.2 the current energy production and that is achieved purely and exclusively with Vaca Muerta,” he also stressed. But if offshore production is taken into account, it could grow between four to five times, he also argued.

Marín had already spoken of plans to sell Metrogas back in August but that this was not the time. “If I sell now, I am not doing my job well for shareholders. Argentina is going to improve its macroeconomy and, if that happens, Metrogas' price will go up,” he also underlined.

Besides YPF, also holding a stake in Metrogas are Integra Gas Distribution (9%), and the Pensions Bureau (Anses - 8%), while the rest is listed on the local stock exchange.