Hydrocarbons production (Upstream)
• YPF’s total hydrocarbon production increased by 3 % in the first quarter of the year, when compared to the previous quarter and this tendency was sustained during April.
• 23 % of that production comes from the non-conventional, which reported 11 % growth, especially because of the results achieved in the area that comprises the Blocks of Loma Campana, Bandurria Sur and La Amarga Chica. They had reached values of 43.000 barrels per day in April.
• YPF continues to increase the efficiency of its non-conventional production that is demonstrated by the continuous reduction in the development cost that reached an average of $10,2 per barrel of equivalent oil in the first quarter of 2021, which means a 14 % drop as regards the same quarter of the previous year.
• Moreover, good results were achieved in other efficiency indicators in Vaca Muerta and the company’s willingness to accelerate its development.
o 34 horizontal wells were completed in other efficiency indicators in Vaca Muerta in one quarter, having thus the company set a record in wells completion.
o An average of 139 fracture stages was reached in the first quarter of 2021, which represents a 34 % improvement above the average for the year 2019.
• As regard the conventional, which represents 65 % of YPF’s total production, very good production and efficiency results were also obtained.
• The company continues to reverse the natural decline of our mature fields with the implementation of technology and assisted recovery. In this respect, Manantiales Behr, a Block with almost a 100-year production, remains as an example of what can be achieved through secondary and tertiary recovery. In April, a record was set by the production of 5,400 barrels a day per tertiary in that area.
• Furthermore, efficiency in the unconventional was improved. A good illustration of this is the reduction of the intervention time in the well by 22% in the first quarter, as compared to the average of 2019.
by Mariano Gibaut
