The head of YPF said that they are looking for marketing contracts to move forward with the next stage of the project. He confirmed that they are joining the PAE LNG project and that they are lowering fuel prices starting Monday.
The CEO and President of YPF, Horacio Marinconfirmed the continuity of the project to build an LNG plant in Río Negro with Malaysian company Petronas. “We remain the same, there is no change”he said Tuesday.
“The LNG project is a huge one, a large investment of 30 billion dollars, which involves infrastructure, plus the plants and the upstream, which seeks to double Argentina’s gas production and reach the peak, which is 20 billion more,” Marin said.
“The first stage is for 10 million metric tons of LNG. We are two months away from having to invest 200 million dollars. Can Petronas leave? Yes, it is a decision for everyone, but can others come? Yes, of course. There is no need to dramatize, this is business and in business companies enter and exit, exit and enter. These are business decisions,” he emphasized.
What is the status of the YPF and Petronas LNG project?
Currently, the LNG project is in the middle of an international tender to carry out detailed engineering (Front-end engineering design (FEED)), which is a engineering design approach used to control project expenses and thoroughly plan a project before submitting a fixed bid proposal“The final investment decision will be made at the end of next year, but YPF will not be the only one involved. We will surely enter into negotiations with other Argentine companies,” he stressed.
Following rumours about a possible withdrawal of Petronas from the project with YPF, the head of the flagship oil company said: “We have the physical project ready. Without RIGI there was no LNG, because it is not profitable at a low price, and we needed incentives.but there were also two additional conditions: the free availability of dollars to pay for the LNG and that the disputes are negotiable in the ICSID or any international institute.”
YPF Petronas LNG Plant
But Marín clarified that the other part of the project to make it viable is to obtain the marketing contracts. “Once we have the contracts signed, then we can move on to the final project. We are talking with different international banks, I am very positive, it doesn’t seem like we won’t get the financing, but we have to get the contracts. We are opening that stage. In India we did well, we should move on to another stage, here we work government to government. With Germany we have it open, and next week we are going to Italy, Hungary, Germany and London.“, he detailed.
YPF’s CEO confirmed that other hydrocarbon producing companies in the country are joining the LNG project, which for now continues with Petronas. “We will have 30% or 35%, the rest is open, that’s why it’s called Argentina LNG”but he also confirmed an open secret in the industry: YPF is joining the Pan American Energy (PAE) LNG project with the Norwegian vessel Golar. “It is a very small ship for spot sales. Gas in Argentina allows for sales for 20 years, so they are complementary things,” he said.
Is YPF lowering fuel prices?
Horacio Marin He confirmed that due to the drop in the international price of Brent oil, which is the reference price in Argentina, there will be a reduction in the price of fuel at the pumps.
“We are analyzing it, for the weekend or next Monday. We are watching the Brent barrel, which is volatile. Yesterday it was at US$73 or US$74, but at one point it was at US$72. For me, this is an important paradigm shift and we have to do it in Argentina. To be a normal country, when oil prices go up we have to increase them, and when they go down, we have to lower the price of fuel.“, he said.
Source: Ambito
I’m a recent graduate of the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism. I started working as a news reporter for 24 Hours World about two years ago, and I’ve been writing articles ever since. My main focus is automotive news, but I’ve also written about politics, lifestyle, and entertainment.
