Re: YPFD YPF S.A.
Publicado: Dom May 26, 2013 10:08 am
Se las cuelgo a todos, igual sale en cuanta web de cotización internacional exista. Miren con qué rigor trata la ....información? En serio creen que el CCL es un problema? Lean eso señores.
Chevron Pacts With The Devil, Signs Deal With Argentina's YPF To Develop Massive Shale Field
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Agustino Fontevecchia
Forbes Staff
Chevron CVX +0.04% may be making a pact with the devil. On Thursday, Argentine energy producer YPF announced it had reached a “final agreement” with the global oil giant to develop the Vaca Muerta basin, considered by Chevron the second largest reservoir of unconventional oil in the world. The second largest U.S. oil and gas producer has pledged to invest $1.5 billion in the first phase of the project, which the Argentine government desperately needs after being forced to import energy for the first time in 17 years in 2012.
Facing runaway inflation and pressure on its precious foreign reserves, the administration of Cristina Kirchner forcibly nationalized YPF last year, throwing out Spain’s Repsol without compensation, which is an indication of the types of risks Chevron is willing to take with this deal.
No regulatory papers have been filed and a “definitive” deal hasn’t been signed, but on Thursday YPF chief Miguel Galuccio announced that after five months of negotiations, Chevron is in. Chevron’s press office didn’t respond to a request for comment but their head of Latin American and African operations, Ali Moshiri, essentially confirmed it to Reuters.
Noting that legal issues won’t “stop our progress in terms of commercial decisions,” Moshiri praised Argentina’s Vaca Muerta field, where they are set to invest $1.5 billion to double YPF’s well count and ramp up production. “You look at Argentina from the geological point of view, and it is number two [in the world],” Moshiri said, “some people say China is number two, but really if you look at the geological and volumetric from the shale oil, Argentina is number two.”
Argentina houses some of the most promising shale formations in the world, particularly the Vaca Muerta field. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Latin American nation houses more than 770 trillion cubic feet of recoverable shale gas, the third largest in the world behind China and the U.S., that report indicated. YPF estimates Vaca Muerta holds 22.8 billion barrels of oil and gas.
And that’s why Chevron is jumping in head first, despite the huge potential risks. With Chevron’s $1.5 billion, total well count will go from today’s 50 to above 100 in 12 months, according to YPF, while 25 additional exploratory wells in both the Vaca Muerta and the Cacheuta formations will be drilled. YPF announced it needs to raise about $15 billion to fully develop the first shale cluster, and has already inked a deal with Bridas, an oil company owned by Argentine billionaires Carlos and Alejandro Bulgheroni and China’s CNOOC, according to Argentina’s FortunaWeb. The Argentine oil company expects the “definitive” deal with Chevron to be completed in July.
Major oil companies are forced to operate in high risk environments, signing deals with dictators and drilling in the most perilous conditions. In this case, Chevron is stepping into mined terrain. The memory of Argentina’s appropriation of Repsol’s 51% stake in the company is fresh in investors’ memory, with the U.S. traded ADRs down 50% since the nationalization announcement and nearly 70% since rumors of the move began circulating.
Repsol sued the Argentine government and is looking for about €8 billion ($10.3 billion) in restitution charges, and has promised to take legal action against anyone looking to work with YPF; Repsol still owns between 6% and 11.9% of the company, depending on what filing one reads; billionaire Carlos Slim Helu owns about 8.4%. Yet potential litigation from Repsol isn’t the major danger, it’s actually the Argentine state.
Last year, the government of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was forced to reckon with Argentina’s first energy deficit in 17 years, pushing it it to tap its precious foreign reserves. In a country that has locked itself out of international markets, U.S. dollars, the global reserve currency, are hard to come by. Given domestic price controls, YPF reduced its investments in Argentina and began to export profits via dividend payments, sparking the ire of the government which took the opportunity, coupled with the discovery provided by Vaca Muerta, to throw the Spanish company out.
Rampant inflation in Argentina is in part a consequence of said price controls, which extend far and wide. Subsidies to incentivize consumption and keep basic goods cheap have crowded out productive investment, as firms are forced to sell at set prices. With inflation running at about 25% according to private indicators (the government has intervened the official statistics office), Argentine demand for dollars has soared as savers look to at least maintain the value of their holdings.
Increasingly dollar strapped, Cristina’s administration attempted to cordon off dollar transactions. This has slowed the economy as inputs and imports aren’t readily available, feeding greater inflation and creating a black market where dollars trade at a nearly 100% premium to the official exchange rate.
Chevron is not alone in signing a deal with the devil. Other global majors currently operating in Argentina include Brazil’s Petrobras , Exxon Mobil XOM -0.28%, Apache APA -0.23% Corp, the latter two which are also involved in Vaca Muerta.
From a natural resources standpoint, Argentina is one of the best endowed countries in the world, with vast energy reserves and an incredible geography for agricultural production. The population is highly educated and it neighbors one of the most important new global economies, Brazil. Yet, political instability has plagued the South American nation for years. Chevron doesn’t seem to mind. And the payoffs seem worth it. The question remains, though, will Chevron be around long enough to see them.
Chevron Pacts With The Devil, Signs Deal With Argentina's YPF To Develop Massive Shale Field
30 comments, 22 called-out Comment Now
Follow Comments
Agustino Fontevecchia
Forbes Staff
Chevron CVX +0.04% may be making a pact with the devil. On Thursday, Argentine energy producer YPF announced it had reached a “final agreement” with the global oil giant to develop the Vaca Muerta basin, considered by Chevron the second largest reservoir of unconventional oil in the world. The second largest U.S. oil and gas producer has pledged to invest $1.5 billion in the first phase of the project, which the Argentine government desperately needs after being forced to import energy for the first time in 17 years in 2012.
Facing runaway inflation and pressure on its precious foreign reserves, the administration of Cristina Kirchner forcibly nationalized YPF last year, throwing out Spain’s Repsol without compensation, which is an indication of the types of risks Chevron is willing to take with this deal.
No regulatory papers have been filed and a “definitive” deal hasn’t been signed, but on Thursday YPF chief Miguel Galuccio announced that after five months of negotiations, Chevron is in. Chevron’s press office didn’t respond to a request for comment but their head of Latin American and African operations, Ali Moshiri, essentially confirmed it to Reuters.
Noting that legal issues won’t “stop our progress in terms of commercial decisions,” Moshiri praised Argentina’s Vaca Muerta field, where they are set to invest $1.5 billion to double YPF’s well count and ramp up production. “You look at Argentina from the geological point of view, and it is number two [in the world],” Moshiri said, “some people say China is number two, but really if you look at the geological and volumetric from the shale oil, Argentina is number two.”
Argentina houses some of the most promising shale formations in the world, particularly the Vaca Muerta field. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Latin American nation houses more than 770 trillion cubic feet of recoverable shale gas, the third largest in the world behind China and the U.S., that report indicated. YPF estimates Vaca Muerta holds 22.8 billion barrels of oil and gas.
And that’s why Chevron is jumping in head first, despite the huge potential risks. With Chevron’s $1.5 billion, total well count will go from today’s 50 to above 100 in 12 months, according to YPF, while 25 additional exploratory wells in both the Vaca Muerta and the Cacheuta formations will be drilled. YPF announced it needs to raise about $15 billion to fully develop the first shale cluster, and has already inked a deal with Bridas, an oil company owned by Argentine billionaires Carlos and Alejandro Bulgheroni and China’s CNOOC, according to Argentina’s FortunaWeb. The Argentine oil company expects the “definitive” deal with Chevron to be completed in July.
Major oil companies are forced to operate in high risk environments, signing deals with dictators and drilling in the most perilous conditions. In this case, Chevron is stepping into mined terrain. The memory of Argentina’s appropriation of Repsol’s 51% stake in the company is fresh in investors’ memory, with the U.S. traded ADRs down 50% since the nationalization announcement and nearly 70% since rumors of the move began circulating.
Repsol sued the Argentine government and is looking for about €8 billion ($10.3 billion) in restitution charges, and has promised to take legal action against anyone looking to work with YPF; Repsol still owns between 6% and 11.9% of the company, depending on what filing one reads; billionaire Carlos Slim Helu owns about 8.4%. Yet potential litigation from Repsol isn’t the major danger, it’s actually the Argentine state.
Last year, the government of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was forced to reckon with Argentina’s first energy deficit in 17 years, pushing it it to tap its precious foreign reserves. In a country that has locked itself out of international markets, U.S. dollars, the global reserve currency, are hard to come by. Given domestic price controls, YPF reduced its investments in Argentina and began to export profits via dividend payments, sparking the ire of the government which took the opportunity, coupled with the discovery provided by Vaca Muerta, to throw the Spanish company out.
Rampant inflation in Argentina is in part a consequence of said price controls, which extend far and wide. Subsidies to incentivize consumption and keep basic goods cheap have crowded out productive investment, as firms are forced to sell at set prices. With inflation running at about 25% according to private indicators (the government has intervened the official statistics office), Argentine demand for dollars has soared as savers look to at least maintain the value of their holdings.
Increasingly dollar strapped, Cristina’s administration attempted to cordon off dollar transactions. This has slowed the economy as inputs and imports aren’t readily available, feeding greater inflation and creating a black market where dollars trade at a nearly 100% premium to the official exchange rate.
Chevron is not alone in signing a deal with the devil. Other global majors currently operating in Argentina include Brazil’s Petrobras , Exxon Mobil XOM -0.28%, Apache APA -0.23% Corp, the latter two which are also involved in Vaca Muerta.
From a natural resources standpoint, Argentina is one of the best endowed countries in the world, with vast energy reserves and an incredible geography for agricultural production. The population is highly educated and it neighbors one of the most important new global economies, Brazil. Yet, political instability has plagued the South American nation for years. Chevron doesn’t seem to mind. And the payoffs seem worth it. The question remains, though, will Chevron be around long enough to see them.
