Shale Oil in Argentina and Repsol's Success

Bloomberg

Repsol’s Argentine Oil Discovery Is Company’s Biggest Ever

November 08, 2011, 7:53 AM EST

By Rodrigo Orihuela

(Updates with analyst reaction in fourth paragraph.)

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Repsol YPF SA, Spain’s largest oil company, said its Argentine YPF SA unit discovered about 927 million barrels equivalent of shale oil at the Loma La Lata field in northern Patagonia, its biggest find.

The unit, in which Madrid-based Repsol owns a 57 percent stake, confirmed the size of the discovery after producing between 200 and 600 barrels a day of high-quality shale oil from 15 wells at the field, YPF said in a statement late yesterday. In May, it had said the find was about 150 million barrels.

YPF, which produces more than 50 percent of Argentina’s crude, is boosting exploration to arrest a decline in output and last year had a 100 percent annual oil reserve-replacement ratio for the first time in 13 years. The Buenos Aires-based company, led by Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Eskenazi, made its largest oil find in Argentina, after drilling a dry hole off the disputed Falkland Islands earlier this year.

READ FULL POST HERE