* Argentina wants Petrobras to double oil, gas output
* Petrobras will invest same in 2012 as in 2011-Lobao
* Argentina confident Petrobras to resolve concession issue
By Hugo Bachega
BRASILIA, April 20 (Reuters) – Argentine Planning Minister
Julio De Vido approached Brazil and its state-run oil company
Petrobras on Fr iday to invite greater investment and
collaboration with oil company YPF, which the government
announced this week it would seize.
Brazilian Energy Minister Lobao responded after the meetings
that Petrobras’ investments in its southern neighbor would
remain at roughly $500 million in 2012, unchanged from 2011.
Although he did not dismiss Vido’s call for Petrobras to double
its oil and gas output in Argentina, he said it would only
happen “in due time.”
Argentina’s request for investment in its energy sector
highlights the risks involved in President Cristina Fernandez’s
decision earlier this week to expropriate YPF from
Spain’s Repsol.
Argentina’s seizure of YPF comes after years of maintaining
policies that left the country unattractive to the oil industry
for investment. They include bans on exports of hydrocarbons and
price controls that keep both oil and gas prices below
international levels.
Vido said after a meeting with Lobao in Brasilia that he was
optimistic Petrobras would come to an agreement with
the provincial government of Neuquen, which suspended its
concession rights earlier in April.
“We have the great challenge of doing business together,
working in collaboration,” Vido said, in a visit that is seen as
an attempt to assuage Brazil’s fears that Argentina plans to
expropriate Petrobras assets after moving on YPF.
Petrobras certainly has something to lose. It has about 80
filling stations acquired with the purchase of Perez Companc’s
local assets several years ago. It also has oil and gas
concessions in the Neuquen, La Pampa and Chubut provinces.
The Neuquen government revoked Petrobras’ exploration rights
on the grounds that it was not investing sufficiently to comply
with its development commitment for the concession. Techint
Group’s Tecpetrol and Argenta Argentina also lost rights.
“Our intention is to invest as much as we can in Argentina,”
Lobao said, adding that raising its production in the country
would involve investing “several billion” in coming years.
Petrobras has budgeted total investments of $224 billion
over the next five years, most of which it is directed at
Brazil’s massive deepwater subsalt oil and gas reserves. Its
CEO, Maria das Gracas Foster also attended the meetings.
Argentina’s aggressive seizure of a controlling stake in YPF
has drawn condemnation from Madrid to Washington and sparked
warnings that investors could shun Latin America’s No. 3
economy.
Lobao said Brazil accounted for 8 percent of Argentina oil
and gas production, down from 12 percent in the past. Production
could be expanded over time to 10 percent or as much as 15
percent of Argentina’s output, as Vido is seeking.
Petrobras has stakes in 19 producing oil projects in
Argentina and in 14 exploratory areas. It has had a presence in
the country since 1993 and produced 102,000 barrels of oil
equivalent per day in 2011.
Vido is the temporary government-appointed administrator of
YPF. He said he would make contact with other
foreign oil companies next week such as Exxon, Chevron
and ConocoPhilips to seek to attract more
investment in oil.
