Hanoi (VNA) - Argentina’sstate-controlled energy company YPF and Malaysia’s Petronas will form a jointventure to invest 2.3 billion USD over the next four years in the Latin Americancountry’s Vaca Muerta shale oil fields.
State-owned Petronas will have an equal stakein the project through its subsidiary Petronas E&P Argentina SA, Reutersreported on December 5.
Located in western Argentina, Vaca Muerta isregarded as having the world’s second-largest shale gas and fourth-largestshale oil deposits.
The companies’ objective is to reach a production equivalent of60,000 barrels a day by 2022. Total investment could reach 7 billion USD within20 years.
Petronas and YPF have already partneredin pilot exploration and production initiatives and will begin development ofthe unconventional fuel project in the Amarga Chica block in the province ofNeuquen.
The announcement is good news for thebeleaguered Argentinean government of President Mauricio Macri, which wasforced to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlierthis year.-VNA
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