oil exploration in Tucumán

[from Latin American Herald Tribune, September 24, 2010]

Argentina’s YPF to Begin Oil Exploration in 2 Northern Provinces

BUENOS AIRES – Argentine oil company YPF, controlled by Spain’s Repsol YPF, said it has signed two agreements for the start of oil exploration in the northwestern province of Tucuman and the northeastern province of Misiones.

The first of the two agreements was signed in Tucuman by YPF Executive VP and CEO Sebastian Eskenazi and the governor of that province, Jose Alperovich.

“Tucuman has three basins with distinct potential and the peculiarity of never having been explored before,” Eskenazi said in a statement Thursday, adding that the exploration work will start in the northern part of the province.

Eskenazi later traveled to Misiones, which borders Paraguay and Brazil, to sign an exploration agreement with the governor of that province, Maurice Closs.

YPF submitted its 2010-2014 exploratory development program in late 2009, a plan that emphasizes the incorporation of new reserves and the search for offshore deposits.

As part of that program, the company has begun exploration work in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Entre Rios, Formosa, Chaco, Santa Cruz, San Juan, Cordoba, Santa Fe, La Rioja and Salta.

YPF is controlled by Spain’s Respsol YPF, while Argentine group Petersen has a 15.4 percent stake.