The other YPF: the projects of the oil company beyond the operation of Vaca Muerta

The stylized plane of the company
YPF (With a pearly lining, bought from an Arab Sheik by Sebastián Eskenazi during the period when he was CEO), he left the San Fernando Airport for
Neuquen before dawn.
Miguel Gutierrez, the current president of the oil company, wanted to reach
Dead cow as soon as possible. He wanted to show the small group of journalists and executives who accompanied him that Argentina was about to guarantee abundant energy and very competitive costs for an industrial takeoff. The meeting also discussed the transformation of the oil company and the creation of new companies, which are part of the trend to increase the participation of renewable sources of energy and to increase energy efficiency. challenge to develop more research.

"In a few years, we moved from a low energy consumption scenario, with permanent cuts in the industry and unsupportable imports, to an abundant energy-generated horizon. locally at competitive prices, "said Gutierrez, enthusiastic.

"It's a structural change." I went to see the businessmen of the Argentine Industrial Union to ask them what they planned to do with this new panorama. " , he added.

In the United States, the growth of unconventional production of gas and oil has led to a sharp drop in prices and a process of reindustrialisation. The same thing could happen in our country. In 2019, the highest level of gas production in the last eleven years has been reached. The gas price for the local industry is $ 3.5 per million BTU, very close to the Texas $ 3. "In Brazil, the industry pays an average of $ 10 per million BTUs and Chile $ 7. Uruguay produces renewable energy at higher prices.This is a strategic advantage for our country, "said the executive.

Under the previous government, when the then president, Cristina Kirchner, and then Minister of Economy, Axel Kicillof, declared energy sovereignty, we imported more than $ 10,000 million a year, because of the systematic fall in Argentine production.

"Energy is the driving force of a country, and politics must understand it," Gutierrez said. To reach current production, it was necessary to innovate technologically to reduce drilling costs. In 2015, each unconventional well was $ 34 million and now costs $ 9 million. YPF is about to launch another ambitious "tertiary stimulus" plan across the country, with modern stimulus techniques to reverse the decline in production from the old conventional deposits. "We have another dead cow", badyzes the executive.

Flight to the transformation

But beyond the hydrocarbons, during the flight back to Buenos Aires, the President of YPF enthusiastically revealed that the company was in full transformation. It has been facing the transition to the production of renewable and clean energy, in line with the challenges imposed by climate change and global technological disruption. In a few decades, a world without fossil energy is expected, with power plants and electric cars powered by lithium, hydrogen, wind and solar energy. That's why YPF has changed its vision and business model: "We are no longer an oil company, we are a company in the energy and mobility sector," said Gutierrez.

This new vision is visible and palpable in Y-TEC, the company created in 2013 by YPF and Conicet at the request of Cristina Kirchner. Its modern 13,000 square meter circular headquarters, located in Berisso, Buenos Aires, has 47 state-of-the-art laboratories and an annual budget of $ 30 million. Many of its 280 employees are scientists, technologists, fellows and expert engineers in geology, physics, chemistry, petroleum, artificial intelligence, molecular biology, nanotechnology, renewable energy and new materials. YPF has invested 51% of the initial capital and provides conduction. Conicet contributed to the remaining 49% and its national network of institutes and laboratories.

The oil company recently launched YPF Ventures, a venture capital fund to invest in innovative technologies. For its part, YPF Luz, its electric arm, wants to be a leader in the distribution of clean energy for the industrial sector.

In recent years, a large number of economists and officials have come up with the idea that Vaca Muerta is the salvation table that will allow the take off of our country. To have oil and gas in abundance at competitive costs is a great advantage. But it would be foolish to ignore that the world is rapidly migrating to a new energy and economic paradigm. From fossil fuels to renewable energies, from a predatory productive model of natural resources and the environment to a model that must work with and in favor of nature. It depends on the survival of our planet and humanity.

On the other hand, it has been proven that countries that have managed to grow rapidly over the last few decades and to multiply their income and per capita well-being have done by placing the right number. scientific and technological innovation at the center of their production strategy. Like Israel, South Korea, Estonia, Ireland and even Iceland, a small country located near the Arctic Sea. Argentina can only make a quantum leap in economic and social development if, instead of exporting raw materials, it is decided to produce and export goods and services with a high content of gray matter. that is, knowledge.

The fourth industrial revolution is shaking the planet. Countries (governments, schools, businesses and workers) that do not worsen in the face of this technological tsunami run the risk of drifting. According to them, the managers of the company YPF know it well. But it is worrying, however, that an issue absolutely crucial to our near future remains absent from the political debate and election campaigns.

From "I hate oil companies" to work to be part of the solution in a tough business: the environment

New paradigms are also part of the conversation at Puerto Madero's YPF tower. Tomás Ocampo is a young environmentalist, expert in
startups who lives in San Francisco, in the heart of Silicon Valley. He was hired to manage YPF Ventures, the new venture capital fund that will invest in technology projects in the US and Argentina.

Ocampo came to our rendez-vous as a true entrepreneur: with a brown cardigan, a black shirt and a long, relaxed hair. A look very different from that of his boss, Sergio Giorgi, Director of Strategy at YPF, a gray frame of the jacket and pants with a remarkable global experience.

"I met Thomas on a trip to Silicon Valley that we did with the executive committee.The first thing he said was:" I hate
oil companies& # 39 ;. After badyzing his profile in renewable energies, I proposed to work with us to be part of the solution, "says Giorgi.

YPF Ventures aims to accelerate the company's transformation by investing in initiatives showing where the energy and transportation sector is going. He has already made a small investment in Bird, the American skateboard company that is already raging around the world. YPF will collaborate on its positioning in Latin America. "In a city, the average distance is 5 km, will the main mobility remain the car or will it be the skateboard?", Ocampo's request.

"Instead of ignoring the changes and using our power to block potential competitors, YPF has decided to partner with them and become the protagonist of the world ahead," Giorgi says.

YPF leaders are aware that the traditional auto industry has peaked. In the United States, sales are declining year by year. Young people no longer aspire to buy their own car. It's expensive and anti-ecological. In Europe and Asia, there are cities with free and last generation public transport. They want to eliminate traffic and pollution.

YPF Ventures has also invested in Sustentator, an Argentinian company offering renewable energy solutions for industry, commerce and home. It's a way of getting to know the needs and desires of the consumer. This initiative fits into one of the most important projects of YPF Luz, the electric arm of the oil company. Last year, it signed an agreement with Toyota for the Zárate power station, where 140,000 Hilux trucks are manufactured each year for Latin America, with 100% wind energy.

YPF Luz brings energy from the Behr Manantiales wind farm in Chubut and, from next year, the Los Teros de Azul wind farm. YPF Luz is a leader in the renewable energy market (Mater). It has signed agreements with Toyota and Coca-Cola Femsa for 100% of its energy needs, at 10 and 15 years respectively. With Profertil, he signed another deal covering 60% of the energy that he uses, in a 21-year contract, the longest of its kind. Recently, he added Holcim, for its five factories in the country, for 35% of its energy consumption.

The transition to renewable energies would have been impossible four years ago. The country did not produce them because, with the artificially subsidized gas and electricity tariffs, there was no incentive for them to invest and begin this transition, which is essential.

• investments: YPF Ventures will spend money on technology projects in the United States. and Argentina
• Electricity: The oil company also has its "electric arm", YPF Luz, a project aimed at providing energy to the industry

A development carried out in collaboration with Conicet to study and implement new technologies

"Initially, Y-TEC was considered an R & D company for Vaca Muerta, but YPF's new vision strengthened our role and multiplied it tenfold," said Santiago Sacerdote, general manager of the company. company based in Berisso, designed as a huge spaceship. Priest, an engineer with experience in the public and private sectors, was vice-president of Conicet between 2012 and 2015. He participated in several initiatives to link science to production. This is his vocation.

"We do not know what will be the energy scenarios of the future.For three years, we are studying lithium and set up a pilot plant for the production of battery cells.We are also exploring the possibilities of hydrogen", he said during a visit to the renewable energy laboratory.

Y-TEC recently filed a patent for a new anodic material, based on a silicon compound, which offers an improved lithium storage capacity of 25% and faster loading and unloading cycles compared to existing products. Y-TEC is looking into whether, in the near future, we could export active ingredients for cell manufacture.

Among the 54 ongoing research projects, the Roca Digital program is one of the most important: it allows to reconstruct and badyze the soil of Vaca Muerta in 3D with the help of images acquired at the nanoscale with powerful scanning electron microscopes (SEM and FIB-SEM). and last generation transmission (TEM).

"With this information, we are generating digital rock twins that allow us to describe, badyze, and perform computer simulations quickly and accurately, without the need for field tests that take months and cost very little. expensive, "adds Marcela Raviculé, Head of Modeling and Simulation.

To extract unconventional oil and gas, it is necessary to drill vertically at a depth of 3,000 meters and then continue horizontally over 3,500 meters, injecting sand and water at very high pressure to fracture the rock and release the hydrocarbons. With the precise information generated in its laboratories, the company has developed the Y-FRAC digital simulator, which uses its own algorithm, with high predictive computing power to improve the hydraulic stimulation used in Vaca Muerta. Other companies do not have such accurate software.

Y-RUPÉ is another product that fascinates scientists and executives. It is a metal filter that mimics the hydrophobic pattern of irupé leaves and lotus at the nanoscale, able to repel water. It serves to separate water from oil. In many wells, crude oil contains up to 90% water. "The separation by settling in large reservoirs is very slow and expensive, this filter will save millions of dollars and can be used for other industries," said geologist María Elena Oneto, head of environmental protection program. The development was carried out with the Cihidecar (Research Center in Carbohydrates) and the Inquimae (Institute of Physical Chemistry of Materials, Environment and Energy), under the UBA. and Conicet.

Y-TEC also wants to be the protagonist of the bioeconomy. YPF Agro will soon launch Y-TERRA, a biologic soy fungicide that kills pests and increases crop yields without causing chemical damage or environmental damage.

• What is that is: Y-TEC has been designed to research and develop new energy-related technologies
• Projects: Production of elements for lithium batteries and the use of hydrogen, among the subjects of study

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