Argentina Grants Offshore Exploration Permits
Argentina awarded permits to begin hydrocarbon exploration in 18 areas off the coast of the country in the Malvinas West basin to companies including Exxon Mobil Corp, Total SA, YPF SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the government said on Friday.The winning companies offered bids totaling $724 million…
Argentina's Energy Chief Quits
Argentina's energy secretary resigned on Friday, the government said in a statement, less than 24 hours after news leaked that the administration of President Mauricio Macri plans to increase electricity prices by an average 35 percent next year.Higher power bills are sure…
Argentina, Russia Ink Uranium Exploration, Production Deal
Argentina and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding to boost uranium exploration and production in the South American country that could include $250 million in investment, Argentina's foreign ministry said on Tuesday. The agreement was sealed during a visit by Argentine President Mauricio Macri to Moscow.
$800mln Gas Pipeline Proposed as Argentina Preps for Shale Boom
Gas transporter TGS, controlled by Pampa Energía, has proposed an $800 million pipeline and gas treatment plant in Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale fields, a company source said, aiming to address a key barrier to increasing production. The project, subject to approval by the government of Neuquen province…
Buyers Eye Sinopec's Argentina Oil Assets
Sinopec's Argentine assets worth about $750 mln-$1 bln; Sonangol, Rosneft among potential suitors. Advisers to China's Sinopec have offered its oil assets in Argentina to about a dozen potential suitors, three sources familiar with the matter said, as losses and labour headaches prompt Asia's largest refiner to pull out.
Statoil to Explore for Shale Oil, Gas in Argentina
Norway's Statoil has signed a deal with Argentina's leading energy company YPF to jointly explore for onshore shale oil and gas resources in the Vaca Muerta formation, the company said on Friday. Statoil and YPF will each hold 50 percent in the Bajo del Toro exploration block, it said.
Argentina Cuts Tariffs on Used Oil Equipment Imports
Argentina's government published a decree on Thursday eliminating or reducing tariffs on imports of used equipment for oil and natural gas companies, a measure long sought by the industry, but it included requirements to buy some locally produced goods. The new rules would go into effect on Friday and apply through June 2019…
Tariff Fight Roils Argentina’s Shale Patch
Argentina needs oil rigs to develop its vast shale oil and gas resources. The United States has plenty of idle equipment laying around after its own unconventional drilling boom cooled. But moving that machinery from the plains of Texas to the windswept Patagonian desert is…
YPF Says Technology Lowering Its Shale Costs
Longer horizontal wells and technology improvements will help Argentine state-run oil company YPF SA lower costs at its most productive shale field, but better infrastructure is still needed in the remote Vaca Muerta play, an executive said. The breakeven price at the Loma…
Argentina Clinches Labor/subsidy Deal to Attract Energy Investment
Argentina has clinched a deal with labor unions and energy companies aimed at luring investors to the Vaca Muerta shale formation in Patagonia, one of the largest unconventional reserves in the world, the government said on Tuesday. As part of the pact, the country will offer…
Argentina: Local Production Subsidies to Continue
Argentina will maintain subsidies to the country's oil producers next year, energy Minister Juan Jose Aranguren told reporters on Tuesday, ending speculation that the ministry was set to remove subsidies paid for by consumers at the gas pump. A new subsidy deal is expected to be signed with oil companies next month, Aranguren said.
Shell Plans $300 Mln Annual Argentina Investment through 2020
Royal Dutch Shell plans to invest $300 million a year in Argentina through 2020 in exploration as well as refining, distribution and marketing, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The announcement came after Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden met with Argentine President Mauricio Macri in Buenos Aires.
Argentina's Macri Defends Energy Rate Hikes
President Mauricio Macri on Saturday defended his move to hike Argentina's energy rates as a "painful" but necessary part of fixing the economy after years of mismanagement under his leftist predecessor. Macri's remarks came two days after an Argentine court halted price increases for gas and electricity…
Petrobras Argentina Extends Concession in Vaca Muerta
Petrobras Argentina said it has an agreement to extend a shale gas concession for 35 years in the South American country's Vaca Muerta region. According to a securities filing on Thursday, the plan would include a five-year pilot project to develop so-called tight gas by drilling 24 wells.
Exxon May Invest $10 Bln in Vaca Muerta Shale Region
Exxon Mobil Corp could invest more than $10 billion in shale projects over 20 to 30 years in Argentina's Vaca Muerta region, the government said on Friday. The project, currently a pilot program being developed with Exxon's subsidiary XTO Energy and Gas y Petroleo de Neuquen…
Argentina Starts Alternative Energy Push
Argentina invited bids for projects aimed at creating 1,000 megawatts of alternative energy on Wednesday in the country's first push toward wind and solar power production needed to help narrow its energy deficit. Argentine President Mauricio Macri said the projects would be the initial stage of a plan that calls for 10…
Chile to Begin Gas Exports to Argentina
Chile will begin sending liquefied natural gas to Argentina this week in significant quantities for the first time, supplier Engie told Reuters, as trade relations warm between the two South American neighbors. The regional arm of France's Engie said it would sell around 85…
Argentina Crude Exports Poised to Hit Record
Argentina's oil producers have shipped record volumes of crude this month, spurred by a new government subsidy that has also prompted state-owned oil company YPF to return to the export market for the first time in years. The surge in shipments abroad comes just a month after Argentina's new president…
Argentina Asks YPF Boss to Resign
Argentina has asked the head of state-controlled oil company YPF to step down next month, the government's official news agency Telam said on Wednesday. Chief Executive Miguel Galuccio was appointed in 2012 by Argentina's previous president, Cristina Fernandez, who seized control of YPF from Spanish oil giant Repsol.
Argentina's YPF to Ship Oil to China, Spurred by Subsidy
Argentine state oil company YPF a will export 200,000 barrels of oil to China in a deal spurred by a new government subsidy designed to encourage drilling in the South American country, a market source familiar with the deal said on Wednesday. It would be YPF's first export of crude in two years, the source said.
