Argentina’s cash-strapped government says it can find US$ 5.1 billion to give to natural gas drillers in a bid to resurface the country’s Vaca Muerta shale patch and prevent a jump in imports of the fuel.
Oil companies in Argentina are obligated to maintain production, payrolls, and investment and cannot repatriate profits under a decree that establishes above-market prices for domestic crude. The decree published on Tuesday sets a minimum price of US$ 45/bl for domestic sales of light sweet Medanito crude.
A Buenos Aires crude oil refinery operated by Argentine state-controlled energy firm YPF is running with a minimal level of workers due to a drop in consumption and a lack of storage space amid a crash in global oil prices during the coronavirus pandemic, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
Argentina’s state-held energy firm YPF slashed by 50% the oil production from its key development area in the vast Vaca Muerta shale play this week due to tumbling fuel demand in Argentina’s lockdown, local news outlet Rio Negro reports.
Argentine state-run oil company YPF has already seen a drop in energy consumption because of a nationwide mandatory quarantine over the coronavirus announced last Friday, a company executive said in an internal video obtained by La Nacion on Tuesday and confirmed by the company.
Argentina’s state energy company YPF said it issued debt of US$ 164 million on Wednesday, in a result it said exceeded its expectation.
Argentine president Alberto Fernandez asked the state-managed oil company YPF to roll back a 5% increase on fuels scheduled to become effective, January first, and which would have a major impact on inflation and food prices.
Norway Equinor’s executive vice president for Exploration, Tim Dodson, and YPF's CEO Daniel Gonzalez have signed an agreement to jointly explore the CAN 100 offshore block, located in the North Argentine Basin.
The output of oil and gas in the Argentine province of Mendoza hit its lowest mark in ten years, contrary to what goes on in the rest of the country, local authorities have announced. The lack of calls for bids during previous administrations has been singled out as the cause of the poor results.
Argentina on Wednesday launched an international tender for a multibillion-dollar pipeline to transport natural gas from the Vaca Muerta shale formation in the western part of the country to capital Buenos Aires. Bids will be opened on September 12.