Yesterday, under the programme of concessions on marginal oil mining areas conducted in the Neuquen province, Repsol YPF was allotted the oil exploration area of La Banda, in the northeast of the region, amidst the Cerro Auca Mahuida mountains.

The company�s offer included a 3D seismic exploration and the drilling of 9 wells in the area over a period of 3 years. The La Banda block is the fifth of nineteen areas offered for tender by the Neuquen government in 2001.

This operation marks significant progress in the Repsol YPF strategy to increase production in the West Argentine Basin, which is the most productive, and holds the largest reserves in the country. In 2000, net production in the Neuquina basin was 407,300 barrels per day, equivalent to 40% of Repsol YPF overall production, which last year amounted to one million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

In December 2000, an agreement was signed with the Argentine government for a ten-year extension to the Loma La Lata exploitation concession, thus strengthening Repsol YPF�s leadership position in natural gas production in this area. Loma la Lata, where Repsol YPF is exclusive concession holder, is the largest natural gas field in Argentina, and one of the largest in all Latin America. It is also at the nerve centre of the Argentine gas system. This strategic location, at the head of a wide network of gas pipelines, gives direct access to the large residential consumption areas and for exports to Chile.

Repsol YPF net production in Argentina during 2000 was 158 million barrels of oil, including condensates and liquids separated from natural gas, and 661 billion cubic feet of natural gas, with an overall production of 268 million barrels of oil equivalent.