Argentina's YPF said on Thursday it reached a preliminary agreement with Texas-based Excelerate Energy to hire an LNG tanker for shipping cargoes to global export markets, as the state-backed energy company seeks to offload a growing surplus of shale gas production.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com - After years of drilling and development and billions of U.S. dollars of investment, Argentina’s vast shale play Vaca Muerta has finally seen the first tangible results with the first exports of light crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the resource-rich formation.
YPF, Argentina’s biggest oil company, sold overseas bonds for the first time in more than a year after a plunge in borrowing costs opened a window of opportunity. The state-owned driller issued US$ 500 million of 10-year, dollar-denominated notes to yield 8.75%.
ExxonMobil said on Tuesday it will proceed with a long-term oil and natural gas development project on a block in Argentina, targeting the Vaca Muerta shale play. The US-based company plans to drill 90 wells to take production to 55,000 b/d of oil equivalent in five years from the Bajo del Choique-La Invernada block in the Neuquen Basin in the country's southwest, the company said in a statement.
A delegation of Argentine officials and businesspeople is travelling to the UK to strengthen trade and investment relations as part of efforts from the private sector, Argentine-British Chamber of Commerce, (ABCC), and both countries governments to promote closer economic and financial ties.
Argentina is offering its first-ever liquefied natural gas cargo, putting the nation on the verge of becoming a regular exporter of the fuel. YPF SA, the state-run oil and gas producer, is seeking to sell a partial cargo from the Tango floating liquefaction unit, or FLNG, at Bahia Blanca, according to traders.
Argentina will exempt an import tax on goods that are used in the production of exports, such as soybeans and machinery to develop unconventional hydrocarbons in the Vaca Muerta shale play, Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne said in a radio interview on Friday.
YPF, the largest oil and natural gas producer in Argentina, is focusing on shale oil for production growth as a glut slows natural gas output, managers at the state-backed company said Friday.
Bolivia is looking at exporting natural gas globally through liquefaction terminals to be built in Argentina, and to buy crude from its southern neighbor, Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Monday, a move that would compensate for dwindling sales of its main export to Argentina and Brazil.
Argentina’s efforts to boost its natural gas output and supply are progressing through new pipeline and transport projects and auctions, moves that are expected to balance the country’s production and demand, the energy secretary said on Monday.