Americas Petrogas Inc. (BOE), a Canadian crude producer, surged as much as 2.5 percent today after announcing that it expects “explosive” growth from unconventional oil and gas reserves in Argentina.
Petrogas, based in Calgary, rose 2.2 percent to C$3.72 at in Toronto trading today, after having climbed 2.5 percent after the announcement.
Argentina’s shale oil and tight gas resources may exceed the 774 trillion cubic feet (21.9 trillion cubic meters) estimated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petrogas’ managing director Guimar Vaca Coca said in an interview today. Americas Petrogas has a venture with Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) to develop shale and tight resources in the southern Argentine region of Patagonia. Exxon rose 0.05 percent to $87.22 in New York.
“We have phenomenal tight gas prospects,” Vaca Coca said. “In the first well we drilled, we found excellent signs of tight gas. We’re going to concentrate on testing the shale gas prospects first and then we’ll examine the tight gas ones.”
Petrogas expects shale output of 10,000 barrels by 2017, Vaca Coca said. The Calgary-based crude producer and Exxon expect to invest $1.5 billion to $2 billion in to develop the resources by 2017.
To contact the reporters on this story: Rodrigo Orihuela in Rio de Janeiro at rorihuela@bloomberg.net; Laura Price in Buenos Aires at lprice3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net
Source: Bloomberg