Weekly Report - 23 August 2012 (WR-12-33)

ARGENTINA| YPF looks to expand Argentina’s oil frontier. Argentina’s state-controlled oil company, YPF, announced on 22 August that it was launching an exploration plan to look for hydrocarbons in non-traditional areas in a bid to expand the country’s “oil frontier”. In a statement YPF said that the exploration will be conducted in accordance with the results of its 2009 exploratory plan which conducted a comprehensive review of the exploration potential of all of the country’s sedimentary basins. The exploratory plan was carried out in some of Argentina’s provinces that currently do not produce hydrocarbons such as: Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos, Chaco, San Juan, Córdoba, Santa Fe, La Rioja, Tucumán and Misiones. It produced a map of exploration opportunities across these provinces and, according to YPF, this information will now be used to devise a “long and medium term exploration plan with the main priority of frontier exploration”. YPF recently announced a US$7bn investment plant for the 2013-2017 period in an attempt to boost production.  However, in order to be able to carry out its ambitious investment plan, YPF has recently embarked on a campaign to identify local and foreign business partners willing to invest in the company which has met with limited success so far. As a result, the company has had to increasingly rely on its ability to raise funds in financial markets. On 13 August YPF announced that it was issuing up to US$759m in negotiable bonds. According to YPF, the issue was approved by its board of directors as part of the US$1bn bond issue programme approved by the company in 2008.

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