Argentina state-run oil company YPF will likely import more crude over the coming months, as it carries out maintenance programs for new pipelines that are intended to help turn the South American nation into a net exporter.

A company executive said imports would likely be “high,” particularly between July and September, during a conference call Friday following YPF’s first-quarter results, when it posted a net profit up 28% from a year earlier.

YPF leads development of Vaca Muerta, a Belgium-sized formation in Patagonia’s Neuquen province, which analysts believe could in a few years help the country reverse a multi-billion dollar energy deficit and become a net energy exporter.

Earlier this week, Chile’s state oil firm ENAP signed a deal with YPF to import crude through the Transandino pipeline out of Vaca Muerta, which the two firms co-own with Chevron Corp CVX.N.

YPF said Friday it should see full benefits from the exports to Chile by the final quarter of this year, with the 45-day contract enabling ENAP to buy 41,000 barrels of oil per day.

In the call, YPF said the Transandino pipeline, set to begin exports in coming weeks, should pump out some 70,000 barrels per day by year-end and continue growing over 2024 towards its full capacity of 110,000 barrels per day.

Vaca Muerta’s new Nestor Kirchner pipeline is at 60% completion and should be ready by September or October this year, it added, while engineering and environmental impact studies were progressing for the project’s Atlantic-bound southern pipeline and export terminal.

The expansion of its Oldelval pipeline, also towards the Atlantic, should be ready by the third quarter, it added.

As YPF increases its exports, it expects to purchase less crude, the company said, adding that it plans to maintain stable pricing in dollar terms even as Argentina battles one of the world’s highest inflation rates.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Sarah Morland and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Isabel Woodford)