The American oil company ExxonMobilone of the largest in the world, accelerates his departure from Argentina and wants $1,000 million in cash sell your goods. The operation is carried out by the investment bank Jefferies Group.
Exxon began the divestment process last year and received offers from nearly a dozen local and multinational oil companies in February. I am the State YPF, PAE (Bulgheroni family), Tecpetrol (Paolo Rocca), Energy of the Pampas (Marcello Mindlin), Pluspetrol (Poli and Rey families) and the Anglo-Dutch ShellMoreover.
Visualizationdirected by Miguel Galuccio, former president of the YPF, appeared next Geoparkaccording to the portal EconoJournal. AND Transfigure could provide capital to the winning bidder.
Qatar Petroleum, another giant in the sector, owns 30% of the shares of ExxonMobil Argentina and has preference rights over the rest, but everything seems to indicate that this would accompany the exit of the American oil company.
An interested source commented to Clarion In confidentially that there is a “high probability” that the prize will go to a multinational company, with Shell in the lead thanks to its ability to quickly finance the billion dollars. Most other companies – with the exception of PAE and Pluspetrol, with more operational liquidity – would have to take on debt to access that money, since they don’t have it in cash.
Exxon’s main asset in the country is the sector shale oil Lower choique -In Dead cow– and the related infrastructure to evacuate production, which currently amounts to approximately 6,000-8,000 barrels of oil per day.
Last week, the US oil company returned three oil exploration concession permits offshore (offshore) in the areas of Western Malvinas basingranted by the national state in 2019.
Together with Qatar Petroleum, Exxon has found no conclusive evidence of the presence of oil and gas in those areas, where it is assumed that, such as off the coasts of Africa and Brazil, the Argentina has a million dollar treasure hidden under the surface of the sea.
If other companies could achieve better results in their seismic exploration, especially YPF and Norwegian Equinor 300 kilometers off the coast of Mar del Plata, Argentina could add exports of around $20 billion a year from 2030.
Industry sources even argue that, if the potential of offshore basins were confirmed, the cost of extraction would be lower than developing the infrastructure to export Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
The background of Exxon
ExxonMobil’s presence in Argentina had been drastically reduced in 2012, when it sold the Downstream (refining and marketing) of the fuels it had under the Esso brand, sold to PAE, which transformed it into the Axion service station network.
Second ForbesExxon was the the fourth largest oil company in the world in 2022 in terms of revenue, behind Saudi Aramco and Chinese companies Sinopec and Petrochina, with around $390 billion, or the equivalent of more than 60% of Argentina’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Of these companies, Sinopec also left the country a few years ago. In 2021, Eduardo Eurnekian purchased his assets through Compañía General de Combustibles (CGC), which has become strong in Santa Cruz.
Source: Clarin
