Argentina’s Shale Patch a Sure Thing Even at $45 Oil, YPF Says

Falling oil prices won’t derail Argentina’s burgeoning shale boom unless they plunge below $45 a barrel, said the chief executive of the country’s top driller, state-run YPF SA.

“Some projects are resilient at $40 and some at $45. Up to that price we can develop,” CEO Horacio Marin said in an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. “Our profitability suffers, but at $45 you can make all the investment.”

Momentum has been building in the Vaca Muerta, Argentina’s shale patch in Patagonia that has the potential to export 1 million barrels a day of crude by the end ...