YPF in talks with Energy Transfer to fund Argentina pipeline – Bloomberg

YPF (YPF) has held talks with Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) to finance a cross-country pipeline considered crucial to Argentina’s ambitions of ramping up exports from the Vaca Muerta shale play, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

State-run YPF (YPF) needs outside backing to pay for the Vaca Muerta Sur pipeline, and it is spearheading development of the pipeline, which is estimated to cost $2.5B, according to the report.

Argentina needs new sources of export dollars beyond its traditional crop shipments to increase central bank reserves, and the pipeline would provide a significant boost to its share of global oil exports and help spark the country’s economy.

The conduit is seen as a key to reaching a goal of exporting ~500M bbl/day of shale oil by the end of the decade; Vaca Muerta’s exports currently total slightly more than 100K bbl/day, and shipments from the shale patch have been slowed by pipeline bottlenecks, with some production still leaving the fields in trucks.