He YPF President Pablo Gonzálezannounced this Friday that the company will invest US$5.5 billion in 2023 and highlighted that last year production registered the highest jump in hydrocarbon production in its history, higher than 7% year-on-year, driven in particular by the performance of the unconventional resources from the Vaca Muerta formation.
Speaking at the New York Stock Exchange at a celebration event after the national company has been listed for 30 years in that marketGonzález pointed out that the action of YPF rose 130% in the last yearand also anticipated that YPF will invest together with some of its partners in the development of unconventionals in the southern basin of Palermo Aike.
On the occasion, González stated that “yesterday the Board of Directors approved the 2022 financial statement report and the production jump was 7.2% of barrels equivalent, the most important in the last 25 years“.
Regarding the results of the last year, González highlighted that the gross operating result -Ebitda- was “US$4,947 million, one of the highest in the company’s history.”
“The post-pandemic capex was US$2.7 billion, last year a capex of US$3.7 billion had been approved and by the end of the year we corrected it to US$4.1 billion, and by 2023 the Board approved a budget of 5.5 billion, it will be a year of growth”, added the head of the company.
In addition, pondered that the YPF share rose 130% in the last yearuntil it is currently trading at around US$ 11.50 per paper.
On the other hand, the head of YPF highlighted the Vaca Muerta formation, which has 16 billion barrels of reserves, among the company’s assets. There, last year the production of unconventional oil grew 47% year-on-year and the conventional is still higher, and in gas the unconventional is already surpassing the conventional,” said González.
Regarding the businesses planned for this year, the president of the company anticipated that “YPF will invest together with some of its partners in the development of unconventionals in the southern basin of Palermo Aike: there we think there may be 6.6 billion barrels to be able to exploit”.
He also commented that two days ago he met with the CEO of Petronas in Houston and noted about that meeting that “the final reflection was that the work of the lawyers and accountants is over and the work of the engineers begins.”
In this sense, he specified that this project with the Malaysian oil company “will determine to export 25,000 million tons per year, at the peak of the project, which means 460 ships. We are going to build a gas pipeline equal to the Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline, taking advantage of Enarsa’s expertise in this process“.
To start with the project, he indicated: “We are waiting for the national State to send the framework law to Congress and from there a different job begins”, referring to the project that creates a new regulatory framework and incentive conditions for the production of LNG .
Additionally, he commented that he had a meeting with the highest authorities of Equinor to give continuity to the offshore exploration project in the Argentine Sea basin, and said that they will do so “always respecting environmental and energy regulations.”
“Although the heart of YPF is oil and gas, We are going to continue investing in clean renewables“He added, in another section of his participation.
To conclude his speech, he thanked the investors present for their trust and remarked that the national company went “from a conventional declining exploitation to an unconventional one that marks the future of Argentina.”
