TotalEnergies’ affiliate, Total Austral, has agreed to sell its 45% stake in two unconventional oil and gas blocks to Argentina's state owned energy company, YPF.
The deal was valued at $500 mill, TotalEnergies said, and represented about 20% of the French group's acreage in Argentina's giant Vaca Muerta shale formation, the world's second-largest unconventional gas reserve.
TotalEnergies is Argentina's largest private operator, responsible for about a quarter of the country's gas production.
Javier Ravelo, TotalEnergies' Senior Vice President of Exploration and Production in the Americas, said the company remained committed to Argentina and that the sale freed it up to focus on developing its core assets there, notably the Fenix gas field offshore Tierra del Fuego, and in the Neuquen basin.
YPF said in a statement the assets came with fracking licences valid through 2051, which are key to the Argentinian company's growth strategy.
TotalEnergies CEO, Patrick Pouyanne, said on a 24th July results call that the company had accepted binding offers for its Argentinian shale oil licence and two upstream assets.
The stake sales are in assets partly owned by Shell (45%) and local firm Gas y Petroleo de Neuquen (10%).
