Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 39 2019
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LatAmOil BOLIVIA LatAmOil
These initiatives will soon bring the volume of gas flowing through the domestic pipeline network to 4mn cubic metres per day (1.46bn cubic metres per year), he noted.
The minister went on to say that state funding had played a key role in the success of domestic gasificationprogrammes.Thegovernmentpro- videssubsidiestocoverthecostofestablishing new connections, of the amount of about $1,000
for each urban hook-up and $1,500 for each rural hook-up, he said.
Bolivian authorities are willing to shoul- der this cost because gasification is promoting economic growth, he asserted. “Gas networks have changed Bolivia’s economy. I daresay that naturalgasistheeconomicheartofBolivia,”he toldBoliviaTV.Inanyevent,henoted,allofthe participants are large companies.
ARGENTINA
YPF set to cut investment budget next year
ARGENTINA’S national oil company (NOC) YPF is likely to trim its investment budget in 2020.
According to YPF’s CEO Daniel Gonzalez, the company is keen to keep spending in check next year. This is partly because global oil prices have remained relatively low, but it also stems from concerns about access to world financial markets, he told reporters during an industry conference in Buenos Aires last week.
In fact, he said, YPF has drawn up plans for 2020 with the assumption that it will not be able to tap the credit markets at all. Instead, he said, the company will work to invest only what it earns.
The CEO did not say exactly how much YPF intended to spend on investment programmes next year. He did indicate, though, that it proba- bly would not match its 2018 investment budget of $3.3bn.
The NOC has seen its credit standing fall significantly this year, partly because the Argen- tinian peso has lost value against the US dollar and partly because the government has sought to avoid financial default by asking bond owners
to accept delayed payments. Nevertheless, Gon- zalez struck an upbeat note, telling reporters that YPF would have enough to cover the debts that are due to mature next year.
Additionally, he stated that the company intended to monitor conditions on the finan- cial market closely. Although YPF will not seek funds on the credit market, it will aim to assess interest rates and investors’ attitudes in order to determine the best time to start borrowing again, he explained.
He also spoke optimistically about YPF’s ability to sustain production growth in 2020. Even though the company will be spending less on exploration and testing, he said, it will focus on development work at its most existing assets – namely, three large blocks in the Vaca Muerta shale basin. It will also strive to operate more efficiently so that it can extract more crude oil while using fewer rigs, he said.
YPF remains confident in its ability to bring oil output up to the target level of 240,000 barrels per day in 2020, Gonzalez declared. The com- pany will then be able to push production up to 500,000 bpd by the end of 2024, he added.
YPF hopes Vaca Muerta fileds will help sustain Argentina’s production growth in 2020. (Photo: Diario Norte)
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 39 03•October•2019
