Argentina's YPF CEO Meets With UAE Oil Companies, Investors

BUENOS AIRES - The head of Argentina's state-run oil company, YPF SA met Wednesday with oil companies and investors in the United Arab Emirates to discuss partnering to produce oil and gas in the South American nation.

YPF CEO Miguel Galuccio met with Abdul Jaleel Al Khalifa, chief executive of Dragon Oil PLC in Dubai. Later in Abu Dhabi, Mr. Galuccio met with Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, chief executive of Mubadala Development Corporation, the Abu Dhabi government's sovereign-wealth fund.

"In the meetings, the funds and energy companies from the Emirates appeared very interested in having a greater presence in Latin America, and in the case of our country, being able to have investments alongside a company like YPF," a YPF official told Dow Jones Newswires.

Last year, Mubadala said it would invest $2 billion to buy into the sprawling business empire of Brazil's richest man, Eike Batista, a move that seemed set to lead to further investments by the Gulf state in Latin America.

Dragon Oil executives could visit Argentina in a month or so to look closer at developing conventional oil and gas products, the YPF official said.

Mr. Galuccio also plans to meet with executives from Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. PJSC and International Petroleum Investment Company before concluding the trip. Argentine Planning Minister Julio De Vido and Deputy Economy Minister Axel Kicillof, who both oversee energy policy in Argentina, are accompanying Mr. Galuccio on the trip.

Mr. Galuccio, who took over YPF when it was expropriated from Spain's Repsol SA last year, has been courting international partners to boost output and help Argentina reduce its dependence on imported energy.

The YPF boss has also recently held talks with Norway's Statoil ASA, Russia's government-controlled gas company, Gazprom, and Chevron Corp., among others.

In December, YPF inked a deal with a company linked to Argentina's Bulgheroni family to invest $1.5 billion together over the next two years to develop shale-gas and oil resources.

YPF also announced an accord with Chevron that could see the California-based company and YPF spend about $1 billion to drill 100 wells for unconventional energy in Argentina's resource-rich Neuquen Province.

If that plan works, the companies could finalize plans to drill an estimated 2,000 wells for about $15 billion in coming years. But the plan faces an important obstacle.

A $19 billion embargo on the assets of Chevron's local subsidiary, stemming from a decades-old case involving environmental damage claims in Ecuador, has raised questions about Chevron's ability to move forward in Argentina as long as the embargo is still active. Chevron has said it will use all legal means available to reverse the embargo.

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

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Colorado marijuana legalization task force meets for first time Monday

Font ResizePoliticsBy John Ingold
The Denver Postdenverpost.comPosted: 12/17/2012 08:28:15 AM MSTDecember 17, 2012 5:39 PM GMTUpdated: 12/17/2012 10:39:28 AM MST


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Death Star Petition Meets White House Goal

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Tweet Posted on Dec 13, 2012 Flickr/Matt Grommes

May the Force be with them. A petition on The White House’s “We the People” site calling to secure funding and resources for the creation of a Death Star has gotten the 25,000 signatures it needs to elicit a response from the Obama administration.

As BuzzFeed noted, “The White House petition is now quite operational.”

Here’s what the official petition calls for:

Those who sign here petition the United States government to secure funding and resources, and begin construction on a Death Star by 2016.

By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense.

The petitioner makes a solid case for the building of Death Star: job creation; defense; American superiority in outer space. Sounds pretty good, right?

However, at an estimated cost of $852 quadrillion—roughly 13,000 times the gross domestic product of the entire world—a Death Star may be out of reach financially for the budget-strapped U.S. government.

So clearly Admiral Ackbar would say it’s a fiscal cliff trap.

—Posted by Tracy Bloom.

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TAGS: admiral ackbar barack obama budget death star death star petition economy fiscal cliff government it's a trap obama administration star wars we the people site white house



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Administration’s Energy Proposals: Less Than Meets the Eye

With a nod to H.L. Mencken, who made art out of presidential punditry nearly a century ago, the current president’s election-year energy campaign is rife with “balder and dash.” Consider two recent administration pronouncements – to allow offshore seismic testing and to expedite permitting for drilling on federal lands – each of which amount to quite a bit less than meets the eye.

Let’s look at the second one first. In North Dakota to see an energy boom in progress, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar pledged a new effort to speed up federal onshore permitting:

“…Salazar touted new automated tracking systems for managing lease sales and monitoring applications to drill wells on public lands that could pare processing time down to 60 days from nearly 300 now.”

Certainly, reducing the time it takes to process a federal permit application from nearly a year to two months is a positive step. Just as certain, it helps the administration sidestep the question of why operators currently have to wait up to a year to get a permit. Or maybe it doesn’t.

A study of Bureau of Land Management records showed there has been a slowdown in new leases, permits and wells drilled on BLM lands as a result of federal land energy policy. Declines in those categories were nearly twice as great on federal lands, compared to non-federal lands in western states. So, while the administration might be credited with moving to fix a problem, it’s a problem the administration has fostered. And more needs to be done. API Upstream Director Erik Milito:

“Today’s announcement sounds promising, but we would suggest additional reforms are needed. We support any system that will ensure efficiency and a clear, consistent application process. Most important, the administration needs to streamline the multi-year timeframe for environmental reviews and open additional areas for responsible energy development.”

Then there’s this: The U.S. Chamber’s Sean Hackbarth notes a flip-flop in the administration’s new zeal for expediting onshore permits:

“Improving the permitting process is never a bad thing. … However, what the department is touting is not a new innovation. The program they dug out is the same one they’ve been trying to eliminate the last three years.”

Hackbarth then links to the administration’s past four budget requests, each of which asked for repeal of the program it now touts:

“The Interior Department is taking credit for a program they have consistently tried to shut down, similar to taking credit for increased oil production that resulted not from its own policies, but, rather, from those implemented by previous administrations.”

Balder. Now the dash.

Last week the administration said it would allow seismic testing for oil and natural gas along parts of the East Coast, suggesting it supports more offshore development. Yet, the White House has banned lease sales in the Atlantic for at least the next five years – meaning seismic research there has no ultimate purpose. Milito:

“This is political rhetoric to make it appear the administration is doing something on gas prices, but in reality it is little more than an empty gesture. The administration’s announcement does not put us on track to produce more of our own energy, and it does not make up for three years of failed energy policy. It continues the pattern of delaying U.S. oil and gas development and supplies until well into the future.”

Bottom line: Beware of election-year flourishes and fan dances. This administration has a nearly four-year record of actions amounting to an off-oil policy – one that’s terribly inconvenient as Americans grapple with higher fuel costs. Hence, the need to look busy on energy – summoning another Mencken aphorism: “flap and doodle.”

View the original article here

Administration’s Energy Proposals: Less Than Meets the Eye

With a nod to H.L. Mencken, who made art out of presidential punditry nearly a century ago, the current president’s election-year energy campaign is rife with “balder and dash.” Consider two recent administration pronouncements – to allow offshore seismic testing and to expedite permitting for drilling on federal lands – each of which amount to quite a bit less than meets the eye.

Let’s look at the second one first. In North Dakota to see an energy boom in progress, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar pledged a new effort to speed up federal onshore permitting:

“…Salazar touted new automated tracking systems for managing lease sales and monitoring applications to drill wells on public lands that could pare processing time down to 60 days from nearly 300 now.”

Certainly, reducing the time it takes to process a federal permit application from nearly a year to two months is a positive step. Just as certain, it helps the administration sidestep the question of why operators currently have to wait up to a year to get a permit. Or maybe it doesn’t.

A study of Bureau of Land Management records showed there has been a slowdown in new leases, permits and wells drilled on BLM lands as a result of federal land energy policy. Declines in those categories were nearly twice as great on federal lands, compared to non-federal lands in western states. So, while the administration might be credited with moving to fix a problem, it’s a problem the administration has fostered. And more needs to be done. API Upstream Director Erik Milito:

“Today’s announcement sounds promising, but we would suggest additional reforms are needed. We support any system that will ensure efficiency and a clear, consistent application process. Most important, the administration needs to streamline the multi-year timeframe for environmental reviews and open additional areas for responsible energy development.”

Then there’s this: The U.S. Chamber’s Sean Hackbarth notes a flip-flop in the administration’s new zeal for expediting onshore permits:

“Improving the permitting process is never a bad thing. … However, what the department is touting is not a new innovation. The program they dug out is the same one they’ve been trying to eliminate the last three years.”

Hackbarth then links to the administration’s past four budget requests, each of which asked for repeal of the program it now touts:

“The Interior Department is taking credit for a program they have consistently tried to shut down, similar to taking credit for increased oil production that resulted not from its own policies, but, rather, from those implemented by previous administrations.”

Balder. Now the dash.

Last week the administration said it would allow seismic testing for oil and natural gas along parts of the East Coast, suggesting it supports more offshore development. Yet, the White House has banned lease sales in the Atlantic for at least the next five years – meaning seismic research there has no ultimate purpose. Milito:

“This is political rhetoric to make it appear the administration is doing something on gas prices, but in reality it is little more than an empty gesture. The administration’s announcement does not put us on track to produce more of our own energy, and it does not make up for three years of failed energy policy. It continues the pattern of delaying U.S. oil and gas development and supplies until well into the future.”

Bottom line: Beware of election-year flourishes and fan dances. This administration has a nearly four-year record of actions amounting to an off-oil policy – one that’s terribly inconvenient as Americans grapple with higher fuel costs. Hence, the need to look busy on energy – summoning another Mencken aphorism: “flap and doodle.”

View the original article here