The Ministry of Industry and Productive Development, together with YPF and Banco Nación, launched from Neuquén a set of credit lines for $35,000 million to promote the industrialization of the oil and gas sector, with a focus on small and medium suppliers and the development of impact projects in foreign currency savings.
The presentation took place this afternoon at the Oilfield Production Services plant, near the capital of Neuquén, and was attended by the head of the Ministry of Industry, José Ignacio De Mendiguren; the president of YPF, Pablo González;: the CEO of YPF, Pablo Giuliano; the governor of Neuquén, Omar Gutiérrez, and the former Secretary of Energy, Darío Martínez, among other national and provincial officials.
On the one hand, a new call for the National Supplier Development Program (Prodepro) -made official last week through Resolution 76/2023 published in the Official Gazette- intended for the oil and gas value chains.
The program will grant Non-Reimbursable Contributions (ANR) for up to $100 million, covering up to 70% of supplier investment projects.
In addition, the initiative, whose Registration will be open until April 27.will accompany up to $150 million in the case of YPF supplier companies that have a client/supplier associative project.
On the other hand, an act of intent was also signed at the event to implement a new line create (Crédito Argentino) that will grant credits of up to $150 million through Banco Nación (BNA) to YPF suppliers for the purchase of working capital, with a subsidized rate by the Ministry of Industry and Productive Development.
The battery of measures also included a new line of strategic projects which provides financing of up to $1,650 million, also through the BNA and with a rate financed by the State, for investments that promote exports and import substitution by larger companies.
In the same way, the commitment was ratified so that the various areas of the State, together with YPF and INTI, relieve the productive processes of the oil company’s value chain to analyze and promote national integration.
Besides, De Mendiguren and González signed a memorandum of intent in order to relieve productive processes of the YPF value chain through the National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI) to analyze and promote national integration and obtain a diagnosis of the possibilities of improvement in it that will be analyzed in a joint work table.
“It is a truly momentous day because this shows that we are not satisfied with just extracting oil or extracting gas,” said Secretary De Mendiguren.
The official also highlighted that “the Argentine development project requires taking advantage of a competitive advantage such as oil and gas and, not content with this, that development spills over so that in a short time we will be a country that exports technology at the service of these two great currents”.
the various available lines of credit They will target both large suppliers and small and medium-sized and entrepreneurs.
For the latter, the program is still in force. Productive Entrepreneurship with a maximum amount of $50 million, an interest rate of 25% and a repayment term of 5 years, an initiative that, among other priority sectors, includes the oil and gas value chain.
“It is a truly transcendent day because this shows that we are not satisfied with just extracting oil or extracting gas. The Argentine development project requires taking advantage of a competitive advantage to turn the country into a technology exporter”Jose Ignacio De Mendiguren
Also speaking during the event, the president of YPF pointed out that “today the industry is thinking towards the future This has to do with a national energy growth policy, without which it is impossible to grow and substitute imports, generate more work for Argentines and Argentines”.
González highlighted the current “energy policy, of which Darío (Martínez) was also a part, is what allowed in the case of YPF to close a year in unconventional with a 47.1% increase in crude oil and 33% increase in gaswith the highest year-on-year jump in the last 20 years”.
For his part, Darío Martínez indicated that “for the national government of the Frente de Todos, it is a priority that the resources be for the producing regions, for their workers, SMEs and local companies; for this reason, it puts a total of $10,000 million for credits for the investments and working capital that our oil SMEs need”.
Finally, the governor of Neuquén indicated that “This announcement of more than 35,000 million pesos comes to respond to connect supply with demand and leverage the local development matrix with more employment and buy local”.
The oil production numbers corresponding to December 2022 express the sustained increase in activity in Argentina, reaching around 622,500 barrels per daywhich represents the highest total production since 2009.
In turn, the other notable dimension of this total is the participation of unconventional oil in this production escalation, in which, in particular, the shale oil it contributed 282,400 barrels per day and set a new all-time record.
