The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

YPF rises 11% on huge boost in resources estimate:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204369404577211570787771452.html

Argentina's largest oil-and-gas company, YPF SA, has sharply raised its estimate for its unconventional oil-and-gas resources to 22.8 billion barrels from 927 million barrels.

… YPF said the new estimate of shale oil and gas was based on work done by Ryder Scott, a Houston-based reservoir evaluation firm, which audited the company's fields in an area known as Vaca Muerta in the province of Neuquen. Ryder Stott classified the bulk of the unconventional finds as "prospective."If they pan out to be economically viable, that would position YPF just behind Exxon Mobil Corp., which reported 24.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent in 2010, the latest figure available. It would also place YPF well ahead of Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, which had global reserves of 16.4 billion barrels, and Chevron Corp., which reported a total of about 10.5 billion barrels in 2010.

Who knows if these estimates will pan out—they are not reserves, however, so the comparisons cited above are somewhat spurious, IMO. One thing I do know is that CLB has been evaluating samples from Vaca Muerta; they said so on the 4Q11 CC.