First Commercial Cargo Loaded from Tango FLNG
Argentine oil company YPF SA has loaded its first commercial liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo for export from a new floating facility, trade sources said on Friday.Argentina's export joins a wave of new supply flooding the spot market which has depressed Asian spot prices to their lowest in a decade for this time of the year.The state-owned firm issued a tender which closed on Nov. 6 to sell 2.1 trillion British thermal unit (Tbtu) of LNG for loading from FLNG Tango, the liquefaction vessel off Bahia Blanca, the sources said.YPF exported its first test LNG shipment in June, but this was its first commercial cargo, they added.The cargo loaded from the facility on Oct.
Equinor,YPF Pact on Argentina Wind Power
Norwegian multinational energy company Equinor ASA and Argentine power producer YPF Luz have joined for the development of the Cañadón León wind farm in Santa Cruz in Argentina.As per agreement, a subsidiary of Equinor will subscribe to shares in Luz del León. The shareholders of YPF Luz are YPF S.A and an affiliate of General Electric.The agreement establishes that Equinor will have a 50% stake of Luz del León, with an equity contribution of USD 30 million. After the subscription and capital integration, YPF Luz and Equinor will jointly control Luz del León…
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, the government said, to explore the areas that are located in the South Atlantic, some near the Malvinas Islands under the control of the British government, but whose sovereignty is claimed by Argentina.The other companies that will make up exploration consortia include BP…
Tango FLNG En Route to Argentina
Belgium based EXMAR announced Thursday that its floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility has left China for a 45-day voyage to the destination of its liquefaction operations at the Port of Bahia Blanca in Argentina.The barge-based Tango FLNG (previously named Caribbean FLNG) is on the move just one month after a contract was signed for a firm, 10-year deployment.Upon its arrival, the facility will be put in operation for EXMAR’s customer YPF S.A. and is expected to start up LNG production in the second quarter of 2019. Tango FLNG is designed for a liquefaction capacity of about 500…
Argentina Outlines Plan for $1.6 bln in Late Natgas Subsidy Payments
Argentina will pay the $1.6 billion in subsidies it owes to oil companies that increased natural gas production in 2017 in 30 monthly quotas starting in January 2019, the Energy Ministry said on Tuesday. The incentive program was implemented in 2013 to attract investment to the South American country's natural gas sector, but Argentina's cash-strapped government has struggled to pay subsidies on time since it began. Those delays have grown in recent years, and the government did not make any payments incurred last year. According to the resolution outlined in the government's official gazette…
$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, could be built in a year and a half and would transport gas produced by companies including state-run YPF SA , Tecpetrol, Dow Argentina and Exxon Mobil Corp , the source said. Argentina's President Mauricio Macri has made attracting investment to ramp up natural gas production a priority of his government, which is trying to end reliance on costly energy imports.
YPF Says 2017 Capex Will Be Below $4 Bln
Argentina's state-run oil company YPF SA's 2017 capital expenditure will be below $4 billion, the previous guidance it had given, an executive told investors during the company's second quarter earnings call on Wednesday. The company should be able to grow hydrocarbon production 3-5 percent in the future with capital expenditures in the $4 billion area, said the executive, who did not identify himself. (Reporting by Luc Cohen)
YPF Posts $15 Mln Q2 Profit
Argentine state-run oil firm YPF SA posted second-quarter profit of 272 million pesos ($15.36 million dollars) on Tuesday, compard with a loss of 753 million pesos a year earlier. ($1 = 17.7 pesos) (Reporting by Caroline Stauffer and Eliana Raszewski; Editing by Diane Craft)
Total, BP Unit, YPF Invest $1.15 Bln in Argentina
Argentina's state-run oil firm YPF SA, France's Total, Wintershall Energía SA and BP unit Pan American Energy LLC announced on Tuesday a $1.15 billion joint investment to increase shale gas production. (Reporting by Eliana Raszewski; Writing by Caroline Stauffer and Luc Cohen; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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 proving complex and costly for global oil majors who say Argentina's protectionist past is slowing efforts to spark its own shale revolution. A move by Argentina's government to cut import taxes on used oil-field equipment has sparked fierce opposition from local manufacturers, who are lobbying the government to include protections for them in a measure they fear will destroy their livelihoods.
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 Campana field is $43 per barrel and falling while development costs are $12.90 per barrel and expected to fall to $10 next year, said Pablo Bizzotto, executive manager at YPF's unconventional resources unit. "Ten dollars is world-class compared with the Permian" shale field in Texas…
YPF Q1 Profit Down 78% from Previous Year
Argentina's state-run oil firm YPF SA posted first-quarter profit of 192 million pesos ($12.47 million), down 78 percent from 855 million pesos a year earlier, the company said on Tuesday. ($1 = 15.395 pesos on March 31) (Reporting by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Schlumberger, YPF to Invest $390 Mln in Vaca Muerta
Argentina's state-run oil company YPF SA and Schlumberger AG, the world's top oil services provider, have reached a deal to invest $390 million in the Vaca Muerta shale field in Patagonia, YPF said on Wednesday. In a letter to the Buenos Aires stock exchange, YPF said a division of Schlumberger would invest the full amount and obtain a 49 percent stake in the 228.5 square kilometer (88.22 square miles) Bandurria Sur concession, where the two companies would develop a two-phase shale oil pilot project. (Reporting by Luc Cohen)
Latin America Struggles to Stem Pricey Fuel Imports
Analysts expect consumption to keep growing in coming years; Mexico was the largest fuel importer from the U.S. in 2016. Latin American countries are becoming more reliant on costly fuel imports amid floundering efforts to bolster domestic oil output and expand refinery capacity. Incomplete reform projects and budget cuts that have stalled investments are aggravating the situation for many Latin American countries. For refiners in the United States, it is a bonus: they have in their own backyard a ready market for rising fuel exports. Overall, the 30 nations in the region bought 2.32 million barrels per day (bpd) of diesel…
Argentine O&G Workers to Strike Over YPF Layoffs
Some 23,000 Argentine oil and gas workers will go on a 48-hour strike beginning on Monday to protest state-owned oil company YPF SA's decision to lay off at least 1,600 workers, a union leader said on Friday. The strike involves workers in southern Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale play, one of the largest unconventional reserves in the world and a region that has attracted investment from Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp but remains largely unexplored. YPF's layoffs will mainly affect workers who have remained on the payroll although their units have been inactive for the bulk of the year, a company source said on Thursday.
Brazil's Petrobras to Invest $622 mln in Argentina
Petróleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-run oil company, will invest $622 million in shale gas production in Argentina's Neuquen province, near the massive Vaca Muerta formation, Neuquen's provincial government said on Friday. The investment will be made over the next few years, according to a statement posted on the provincial government website. "There will be a total of 24 wells in the Rio Neuquen area," Neuquen Governor Jorge Sapag said in the statement. The wells will be drilled in the Punta Rosada formation. Last month Argentina adopted an investment…
Argentine Province Expects Big Oil To Bid In Shale Block Auction
Argentina's Neuquen province expects major global energy companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp , to bid in a May auction of 11 oil blocks, its energy minister said on Wednesday. The exploration and development blocks include conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources, most of them in the vast Vaca Muerta shale formation, considered one of the world's biggest shale deposits. The results are expected for August. "For unconventionals, the players will be the majors," Neuquen Energy Minister Guillermo Coco said in Houston on a road show to attract foreign capital. "Chevron, Exxon, Shell have shown interest in Vaca Muerta.
Chevron, YPF Continue Development of Vaca Muerta Shale in Argentina
signed agreements with the Argentine oil company YPF S.A. Vaca Muerta formation located in the Neuquén province in Argentina. the world today," said George Kirkland, vice chairman of Chevron Corporation. large-scale drilling and production in the 96,000-acre (388-sq. km) Loma Campana concession. exploration of shale oil and gas resources in the 49,400-acre (200-sq. Neuquén Basin of west-central Argentina. Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company. Chevron is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies, with subsidiaries that conduct business worldwide. technologies in the world.
Update: Chevron, YPF Boost Spending for Argentine Shale
Chevron Corp and state-controlled YPF SA said on Thursday they would spend an additional $1.6 billion to continue developing Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale formation, adding plans for new wells this year and announcing fresh exploration projects. The project will help Chevron boost its oil and natural gas production, which has been stubbornly flat the past few years despite annual capital spending of around $40 billion globally. It should also help calm concerns about foreign investment in Argentina, which was widely castigated after Buenos Aires expropriated Repsol SA's majority stake in YPF two years ago…
Chevron, YPF to Continue Vaca Muerta Shale Development
Chevron Corp said on Thursday it had signed an agreement with state-controlled YPF SA to continue developing Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale formation. The companies first started drilling in the region last year. Chevron, which called Vaca Muerta one of the world's most exciting shale plays, has previously said production there could jump from around 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day currently to 80,000 boed by 2017. (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
