Argentina's YPF will launch a tender for an agro-industrial facility

Chief Executive Officer Horacio Martin said that YPF, the state-owned energy company in Argentina, plans to hold a tender for a partner from the agricultural sector to manage its agribusiness division and create a joint venture.

Local media reports that the board of YPF must still approve the move. It is part a broader plan to divest assets not core and concentrate on the lucrative oil and natural gas operations the company has in the Vaca Muerta shale.

Marin, speaking at an event for agribusiness, said: "We will put the company up for tender so that someone in the agricultural sector can run it." "Our idea is to form a joint-venture."

He didn't name any possible partners.

YPF leads the development of Vaca Muerta. Argentina bets on this project to become a global exporter of energy and to bring in much-needed foreign currency via oil and liquefied gas (LNG).

The world's largest unconventional oil and gas reserves are found in the massive shale deposits of the Patagonian Province of Neuquen. Walter Bianchi, Lucila Sigal and Kylie Madry edited the article.

(source: Reuters)