YPF, the biggest oil and natural gas producer in Argentina, said Monday that it plans to raise up to $100 million in a sale of two-year bonds in the local market to finance drilling projects.
The state-run company will offer the US dollar-linked bonds at auction on Tuesday, it said in a securities filling. The notes will pay 1% over currency depreciation.
The bookrunners in the deal are Galicia, Santander, Macro, Max Capital, BBVA and Banco Comafi.
The sale proceeds will be used for working capital and for investments in its operated oil and gas fields in Argentina, including in drilling wells and buying equipment, as well as in its downstream and petrochemical businesses, YPF said.
In May, the company sold $177.7 million worth of two-year, dollar-denominated bonds in the local market, pricing them at 6%. That followed a sale of $800 million in global notes in January, its first international deal in four years.
YPF plans to invest $5 billion this year to increase oil and gas production, with a focus on the Vaca Muerta shale deposit in northern Patagonia. The company’s goal is to become a global oil and gas exporter by 2030, a strategy that will involve selling off non-core assets, such as maturing conventional fields, a gas distributor, a stake in a small oil refinery and its businesses in Brazil and Chile.