Argentina’s YPF SA is aiming to sanction an LNG export challenge by the top of 2023, in response to CFO Alejandro Lew.
Lew and CEO Pablo Iuliano hosted a name to debate the 51% state-owned oil and fuel firm’s third-quarter outcomes.
YPF and Malaysian nationwide oil firm Petronas signed a memorandum of understanding on Sept. 1 to check the potential for an built-in liquefied pure fuel export challenge in Argentina, residence of the Vaca Muerta shale formation.
If the challenge strikes ahead, it will “most likely require a devoted fuel pipeline,” Lew instructed analysts. This is able to be along with the Néstor Kirchner pure fuel pipeline below growth by the federal government.
Lew stated, “we imagine that clearly, we’ve already demonstrated the productiveness of Vaca Muerta and the economically viable exploitation of the pure fuel assets. However clearly, placing collectively an LNG plant, a large-scale LNG plant, the way in which that we’re considering of takes many engineering in addition to financial and monetary analyses to return as much as a remaining funding resolution,” or FID.
YPF and Petronas “count on to have some kind of FID resolution…hopefully earlier than the top of subsequent yr, that would be the timeframe for arising with a remaining resolution there,” Lew added.
The Néstor Kirchner pipeline, in the meantime, ought to assist ease takeaway constraints for Vaca Muerta pure fuel manufacturing, Lew stated.
He famous that YPF will not be concerned within the pipeline’s development. Nonetheless, “despite the fact that it’s difficult…we nonetheless imagine that they’ve the flexibility to have the pipeline up and working” round June 2023 at first of South America’s winter, Lew stated.
The CFO additionally highlighted a presidential decree earlier this month to broaden Plan Fuel.Ar, a program to incentivize home fuel manufacturing, via 2028.
This system’s extension, together with the Néstor Kirchner pipeline, ought to assist Argentina to cut back its LNG import wants over the approaching years, Lew stated. It additionally “gives additional stability and worth signaling to proceed incentivizing the worthwhile growth of our huge pure fuel reserves,” Lew stated.
‘Formidable’ Capex Plans
On the upstream entrance, Lew stated YPF administration believes “that the enhancements in our Vaca Muerta operations primarily current us with a really enticing alternative to ramp up” capital expenditures (capex) and doubtless have an much more formidable capex plan for subsequent yr and the years after that.”
Though YPF has not but finalized its 2023 capital funds, “we do count on capex for the subsequent few years to be considerably extra formidable than the extent that we’ve seen in 2022 and the one which we predict to deploy in 2022 of simply over $4 billion.”
YPF reported manufacturing of 504,000 boe/d for the third quarter, flat sequentially however up 1.8% yr/yr.
Oil output rose by 7.3% y/y to common 225,000 b/d. Pure fuel manufacturing fell by 1.2% y/y to 38.4 million m3 (1.36 Bcf)/d.
The figures for shale oil and shale pure fuel manufacturing instructed a unique story, nevertheless, rising by 48% and 22%, respectively, versus the identical interval final yr. YPF produced 604 MMcf/d and 222 MMcf/d pure fuel from shale and tight formations, respectively, throughout 3Q.
Unconventional manufacturing stays the principal driver of progress for the corporate, administration stated. Unconventional oil manufacturing rose 50% yr/yr, whereas unconventional pure fuel output was up 20%.
The expansion was pushed by operational enhancements in Vaca Muerta, the place the corporate achieved new information for hydraulic fracturing and drilling speeds throughout the quarter. Shale oil and fuel represented 41% of complete manufacturing throughout the interval, up from 33.4% a yr earlier.
YPF’s pure fuel manufacturing fetched a median worth from third events of $4.4/MMBtu, in comparison with $4.2/MMBtu a yr earlier and $3.9 within the earlier quarter. The sequential enhance mirrored the seasonality issue included in Plan Fuel.AR between Might and September
Capex rose 70.5% y/y, totaling $1.2 billion for 3Q and $2.9 billion via the primary 9 months of the yr. Upstream capex totaled $867 million, up 54.9% y/y, with 70.7% of the full going towards drilling and workover actions.
YPF posted a tenth consecutive quarter of optimistic free money movement, producing $262 million for 3Q and $966 million for the primary 9 months of the yr.
Web earnings was $678 million for the third quarter, up from $237 million within the year-ago interval. Income totaled $5.18 billion, up 43% versus 3Q2021.
