President Javier Milei’s government has decided not to include the privatisation of Argentina’s state energy firm YPF SA in its massive ‘Omnibus’ bill.
The potential sell-off of the national oil driller was a non-negotiable line for lawmakers from the UCR, PRO and Consenso Federal caucuses. They said they would not support the government’s ‘Ley de Bases’ bill without the YPF’s removal from the list of firms to be sold.
Simultaneously, YPF announced an agreement with the Santa Cruz government to return conventional oil fields owned by the firm to provincial control.
Santa Cruz is the first to initiate talks with the state-owned company on the subject. Governor Claudio Vidal, who described the agreement as “historic,” is hoping able to exploit resources located on the northern fringe of the province's territory.
The agreement was sealed at a meeting attended by the governor and YPF President Horacio Marín, among others.
Vidal explained that "these are YPF's areas – some of them without [new] investment – with notable production losses in recent years. As a consequence, many small and medium-sized companies have ceased to operate, others are facing the reduction of their contracts, and society is absorbing the loss of regional economic movement.”
The fields from which YPF will divest are Los Perales-Las Mesetas, Barranca Yankowsky, Cañadon de la Escondida-Las Heras, Cañadon León-Meseta Espinosa, Cañadon Vasco, Cañadon Yatel, Cerro Piedra-Cerro Guadal Norte, El Guadal-Lomas del Cuy, Los Monos and Pico Truncado-El Cordón.
Governor Vidal said in a statement that the reactivation of the areas would “sustain and generate a greater number of genuine jobs in the private sector, in addition to increasing production to obtain higher royalties, and thus successfully address the high public spending that the province has today in terms of health, education and state salaries.”
Santa Cruz's request is not new and has been made for many years by oil-producing provinces, mainly in Patagonia. The demands usually focus on mature wells, some of them without activity, which were relegated by the shale boom of Vaca Muerta.
Vidal said that "the only way to move forward is for everyone to work, produce and strengthen each and every activity, including the oil fields.”
– TIMES/NA
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