Page 16 - LatAmOil Week 33

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This represents a 154.8% decline on the loss of countries. “[Worldwide], the drop was over 15%
ARS33.36bn ($458.7mn) reported in the second between April and June,” it said.
quarter of 2019 and also marks a nearly 15-fold Argentina’s relative success on this front is
drop on the profit of ARS6.35bn ($87.3mn) largely the result of government policy. Officials
recorded in the first quarter of 2020. in Buenos Aires have offered financial incentives
YPF also stated that its revenues had dropped to domestic oil and gas producers that maintain
to ARS134bn ($1.84bn) in the second quarter production at or near the levels prevailing prior
of this year. This represented a 17% fall on the to the advent of the pandemic. As a result, out-
year-ago figure of about ARS161.4bn ($2.22bn), put has not contracted quite as much as antici-
it said, without providing a first-quarter figure. pated, even in the face of a decline in domestic
According to the statement, the company’s demand for petroleum products. ™
poor financial performance resulted largely
from market conditions – namely, the corona-
virus outbreak, which cut demand for YPF’s oil
and gas, and the brief price war between Rus-
sia and Saudi Arabia, which brought oil prices
down to historic lows in late April.
“The company was undergoing a complex
situation from the economic and financial
standpoint which was then compounded by the
effects generated by the COVID-19 pandemic,”
it said.
The NOC went on to say that its production
of crude oil and natural gas had declined by 9%
in the April-June interval. It did not give spe-
cific figures, but it did report that oil yields had
dropped by 11% in the three-month period. It
also stressed that Argentina’s hydrocarbon out-
put had not shrunk as much as that of other The pandemic has affected demand for YPF’s fuels (Photo: YPF)

ExxonMobil awarded another

block in Vaca Muerta formation

THE US major ExxonMobil has won a 35-year international oil companies (IOCs) – Total
concession for another block in the Vaca Muerta (France), Chevron (US) and a subsidiary of BP
giant shale play, its main focus in Argentina. (UK) – are working in Vaca Muerta, one of the
The government of Neuquen Province largest unconventional hydrocarbon basins in
announced the award, saying it had granted the world. The formation is roughly the size of
ExxonMobil the right to explore and develop Belgium and contains around 308 trillion cubic
Los Toldos II Oeste. According to a statement, feet (8.722tn cubic metres) of shale gas, accord-
the US giant will operate the block with a 90% ing to the US Energy Information Administra-
stake, while the remaining 10% will go to Gas tion (EIA).
y Petroleo del Neuquen, the provincial oil Several firms operating in the Vaca Muerta
company. shale have cut production in recent months,
The new block is adjacent to Bajo del as demand had fallen off during the lockdown
Choique-La Invernada and Los Toldos I Sur, imposed to try to curb the spread of coronavi-
ExxonMobil’s most productive Vaca Muerta rus (COVID-19). Seismic activity in the region
blocks. The company has pledged to drill and has also led to further production cuts in recent
complete two wells during a four-year pilot pro- months.
gramme, in line with the terms of its agreement. Nevertheless, the Argentinian government is
It will also drill a well into Tordillo, a forma- eager to keep output levels up. In June, it decided
tion that lies just below Vaca Muerta, alongside to revive a subsidy programme designed to
building production and seismic processing support natural gas production at a number of
facilities at Vaca Muerta, the provincial govern- Vaca Muerta blocks. To this end, the admin-
ment said. In the longer term, the firm will drill istration of President Alberto Fernández will
44 wells at the 19,200-acre (77.7-square km) release $250mn worth of payments that have
block on the path to full development. been pending for the last six months within the
Along with ExxonMobil, several framework of its “Plan Gas” programme. ™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 33 19•August•2020