Petrobras has reached an agreement with Argentine oil company YPF that could mean the Brazilian oil giant’s return to oil and gas operations in Argentina. The company had reduced its presence in the country after the launch, in 2010, of a regional divestment plan that included the sale of assets. In 2016, assets were sold to Argentine businessman Marcelo Mindlin, owner of Pampa Energía, for a value close to US$1 billion.
The Brazilian state-owned company arrived in Argentina in 2002, when it acquired the operation of Pecom Energía, the energy company owned by the Pérez Companc family. In August 2024, with the reorganization of the group after the death of its founder, Gregorio Pérez Companc, Pecom purchased two oil concessions from YPF in the province of Chubut, in the Patagonia region, in the south of the country, marking its return as an operator in the sector, from which it had withdrawn in 2015.
In turn, last year, Petrobras reversed its intention to leave Argentina and canceled the sale of its subsidiary, Petrobras Operaciones SA (POSA), which maintains a minimal operation. With this decision, the company could follow in Pecom’s footsteps, possibly returning to the business.
Petrobras recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with YPF, focusing on unconventional resources at the Vaca Muerta energy complex. In this sense, it agreed to “analyze the technical and preliminary aspects for joint development in the exploration and production segment”.
The contract is non-binding – that is, there is no obligation to comply with it – and is valid for three years and extendable for another three years. It includes technological cooperation between the two companies, according to a statement from Petrobras.
“We are always seeking to work together with companies with complementary skills to ours and that can help diversify our portfolio, such as YPF, a reference in Latin America in the exploration of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs”, said the executive manager of Exploration at Petrobras, Jonilton Pessoa, who signed the memorandum of understanding with the vice-president of Exploration at YPF, María Fernanda Raggio.
Petrobras holds only one stake (34%) in Argentina, in an unconventional gas area of the Rio Neuquén field, located in the Neuquén Basin, in the extreme south of Argentina, known for its unconventional oil and gas resources. As a partner, the company shares this field with YPF, which operates it, and Pampa Energía.
In September, Bloomberg had anticipated that the Brazilian oil company “is looking for shale gas assets in Argentina to increase fuel supplies and stimulate industrial growth.”
Petrobras acknowledged that it plans to “generate value and restore oil and natural gas reserves through opportunities in Brazil and abroad”, as part of its strategic plan outlined for the next five years.
The arrival of natural gas from Vaca Muerta in Brazil opens up an opportunity due to the growth in Brazilian demand and the decrease in gas production in Bolivia, at a time when Vaca Muerta has reached a record in oil and gas production in 20 years, with the best numbers since 2004.
In this sense, according to industry sources, Petrobras is evaluating alternatives for importing natural gas from Vaca Muerta, such as transportation via the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline, reversing the current flow of the North Gas Pipeline.
With the neighboring country emerging as a key strategic partner, the Rio Oil & Gas 2024 exhibition was held in September in Rio de Janeiro, attended by the governor of the province of Neuquén, Rolando Figueroa, and the mayor of the city of Neuquén, Mariano Gaido, who traveled to make contacts with potential investors.
During the convention, Figueroa said he held meetings with Petrobras on his recent trip to Houston: “We explained to them that Argentina’s natural resources belong to the provinces, not the national state. Afterwards, together with Alberto Weretilneck (governor of the province of Río Negro), we met with President Lula and talked about the possibility of exporting LNG from Río Negro”.
“We agreed to continue moving forward. The Brazilian Energy Minister was going to come to Vaca Muerta, but he had to cancel the trip because he went with Lula to Chile. A visit to sign a bilateral agreement is pending. There is interest in building a specifically Brazilian-Argentine gas pipeline”, stated Figueroa.