YPF Sells Conventional Assets in Mendoza for US$405 Million to Fund Vaca Muerta

YPF sold two conventional production clusters in Mendoza for US$405 million, the company announced on August 5 and Bloomberg Línea reported. The larger buyer is San Benito Upstream, a vehicle linked to Pecom, part of the Pérez Companc group, which consolidates its position as Argentina's second-largest conventional crude producer.

Both transactions are part of YPF's Plan 4x4, through which the state oil company redirects capital toward Vaca Muerta, the unconventional formation that concentrates more private capital and major-company investment than any other in South America. According to El Cronista, with the acquisition of Mendoza No Operado, Pecom will exceed 54,000 barrels per day and rank second in conventional production, behind only Pan American Energy. The rotation matters at a regional scale: the capital acquiring mature assets in Argentina is the same capital analyzing opportunities in the U.S. Gulf basin.

The two clusters were sold in separate transactions:

- Chachahuén, in Mendoza, for US$200 million to Energía Mendocina and Compañía Andina de Petróleo y Gas (CAPSA); it contributed approximately 10,000 barrels per day of oil in the second quarter of 2026.

- Mendoza No Operado, spanning Mendoza and La Pampa, for US$205 million to San Benito Upstream; it produced approximately 7,000 barrels per day and 0.04 million cubic meters per day of gas.

Both sales include pipelines and associated materials, with effective dates of January 1 and June 1, 2026, and remain subject to customary closing conditions. Combined, YPF removes approximately 17,000 barrels per day of crude from its books, and when added to the US$410 million from the sale of Manantiales Behr to Pecom, the year's conventional divestments exceed US$815 million.

The closing timeline for both transactions will set the pace of YPF's rotation toward shale. For the region, the figure to watch is the capital flow: with US$405 million reassigned, Vaca Muerta strengthens its position as the asset competing for the same private capital that is eyeing the Gulf basin.

This article was produced with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.