YPF, Petronas Sign $550 Million Vaca Muerta Shale Accord

YPF SA and Petroliam Nasional Bhd., state-controlled companies from Argentina and Malaysia, signed a $550 million accord to develop shale oil at the world’s fourth-largest deposit in Vaca Muerta.

Miguel Galuccio and Shamsul Azhar Abbas, chief executive officers for YPF and Petronas, respectively, signed a deal to develop a 187-square kilometer area (72 square miles) at Petronas’s Kuala Lumpur headquarters today, the Buenos Aires-based producer said in an e-mailed statement. YPF will invest $75 million and Petronas $475 million to drill more than 30 wells in three years in southwestern Argentina. Depending on the results the program could be expanded to a five-year $1 billion investment, YPF said.