Statoil and YPF in Talks on Shale Development

 Statoil of Norway is in talks with YPF, the state-owned Argentine company, about joint energy ventures.

YPF chief executive Michel Galuccio revealed the negotiations, and said talks were also taking place with Bridas Enegy Holdings, an Argentine oil and gas explorer. Bridas is 50% owned by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation.

The Argentine government nationalised YPF last April, claiming that its Spanish parent Repsol was under-investing and missing opportunities. The expropriation was controversial, and just last week Repsol announced it is taking Buenos Aires to international arbitration over the issue.

 Argentina has the world's third largest reserves of shale gas, but has had difficulties in developing these, partly because of the long economic crisis which has put off investors and lenders. An estimate by the US Energy Information Administration says there could be 77 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable shale gas in the country.

Galuccio told the Financial Times he was going to Oslo for talks with Statoil executives on Monday. Galuccio had been speaking at a seminar in London, where he confirmed that a joint venture between YPF and US company Chevron, also looking for shale gas, was "well advanced".

Galuccio said he was confident that legal issues would not stand in the way of any agreement between the company and Chevron.

"There is no claim Repsol can make that can freeze the development of YPF per se ... We are not concerned and I think Chevron is probably less concerned than us, otherwise they wouldn't be investing in us," he said. 

See also: Repsol Takes Case Against Argentina