YPF Says Neuquen Strike Slashes Energy Output

Argentina's state oil producer YPF said on Thursday a labor strike in the province of Neuquen will cut output by 80,000 barrels of crude oil and 3 million cubic meters of natural gas.

If the strike, which began at 2000 local time (2300 GMT) on Wednesday is over in 24 hours and oilfields take 48 hours to get back on track, the total cut in output could be 160,000 barrels of oil per day and 6 million cubic meters of gas, YPF said.

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Alejandro Lifschitz; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)