YPF signs memorandum with India’s biggest international oil and gas company

India’s ONGC will explore investing in Argentina’s gas assets. YPF is also seeking US$1 billion in financing for developments in the Vaca Muerta region.

Argentina’s state-run oil company, YPF, signed yesterday a memorandum of understanding for hydrocarbon cooperation with Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), India’s biggest oil and gas company. The Argentine company also announced that it would seek US$1 billion in financing for investments in Vaca Muerta.

According to YPF, the agreement seeks to improve cooperation between the two companies in the sector, including collaboration in the exploration and development of oil and gas. The companies will also seek to develop links between their respective research and education centers in a project that would see teams visit each other, the memorandum said. 

“This is an enabling memorandum of understanding. They have gas (assets)… so we will explore investing there,” Arun Kumar Singh, chairman of the state-run ONGC, said at the India Energy Week exhibition in Bengaluru. 

The memorandum was signed during that event with the presence of India’s Oil and Gas Minister, Shri Hardeep S Puri, ONGC’s authorities, and YPF chairman Pablo González.

Financing

YPF also aims to raise about US$1 billion in financing this year, returning to debt markets to fund the development of the Vaca Muerta shale region, which spans the provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro, La Pampa and Mendoza.

The debt operation would be the first since YPF restructured some US$2.1 billion in 2021.

“Our external funding goal is around US$1 billion, with a first round in Argentina we secured US$300 million,” said YPF head Pablo González.

YPF plans to raise its investments to US$5 billion this year, from US$3.7 billion that were injected in 2022. Some US$3.5 billion will be destined to the Vaca Muerta region, according to González. The company’s production goal for this year is 550,000-560,000 barrels per day of oil and gas, an increase of about 10% from last year’s average. 

Other major developments YPF is planning for the year are a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) production project with Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas, Argentina’s fourth wind farm in Córdoba, and the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline.

Reuters/ Herald

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