By Taos Turner
BUENOS AIRES--Argentina's leading energy company, YPF SA, said
Friday that its profit surged in the fourth-quarter while oil and
gas production also rose from the previous year.
The state-run company posted a quarterly profit of 1.9 billion
Argentine pesos ($241 million), up about 88% from the same period a
year earlier.
YPF's chief executive, Miguel Galuccio, has focused intensely on
raising oil and gas production since he took over the company in
mid-2012.
The company said crude oil production was up 6.3% in the fourth
quarter while natural gas production was up 10.2%.
YPF produces about 35% of Argentina's oil and gas and accounts
for more than half of the fuel sold in Argentina.
Argentina's government expropriated a 51% stake in YPF from
Repsol SA in 2012 after Argentine President Cristina Kirchner
claimed that Repsol had not done enough to boost production.
Last month, Repsol's board said it agreed to end the Spanish oil
major's conflict with Argentina over the expropriation by accepting
a compensation deal valued at $5 billion. YPF officials are hopeful
the deal will clear the path for the Argentine company to attract
fresh investment in the country's vast and largely untapped
unconventional oil and gas fields.
Last year, Chevron Corp. agreed to fund the bulk of a $1.5
billion joint venture with YPF to develop the country's vast shale
oil and gas deposits. Argentina ranks second in the world, behind
China, in potentially recoverable shale-gas reserves, with 802
trillion cubic feet, according to a study last month by the U.S.
Energy Information Administration.
Argentina also ranks fourth in shale oil with an estimated 27
billion barrels.
YPF is currently in talks with Petroliam Nasional Bhd, or
Petronas, Malaysia's state oil and gas company, to partner in a
deal that could be similar in structure to the accord signed with
Chevron.
Write to Taos Turner at taos.turner@wsj.com
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