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“You have here the ‘next big bang’, the next major event in unconventional hydrocarbons,” said Janeen Judah, director of the US oil company, in reference to the Neuquen formation Vaca Muerta.

The executive opened in Buenos Aires the Latin American and Caribbean Conference of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, in which Secretary of Strategic Energy Planning, Daniel Redondo, affirmed that the national government “is playing for this bet and took critical measures to Facilitate investments that should amount to US $ 20 billion per year. ”

Judah said that “everyone is talking about Dead Cow and they are asking if the next big shale oil basin is true”.

“It is true that they chose an exceptionally bad time, in 2014, to reform their oil sector; But as the price of oil stabilized and the fiscal terms were affirmed I think the investments will reach Vaca Muerta, and this shows great potential to become that next big bang, “said Janeen Judah.

The Chevron directive, the first firm associated with YPF to exploit the Loma Campana area, also highlighted the contribution that will come from the advance in large-scale data analysis.

“We are seeing a convergence of reliable sensor technology, cheap and widely available communications and a rapid improvement in data intelligence, which improves the way we analyze our fields,” Judah said.

He said that “stable prices and stable governments attract more foreign investment and better business,” and said that “we are at a very exciting time: a new perspective has begun for the non-conventional, in the United States and here in Argentina” .

Redondo, in turn, reviewed the scenarios for the local energy sector and said that “a very rapid development of Vaca Muerta” is needed to meet expected demand, given a projected annual GDP growth of 3% in the next decade.

“To promote this investment we take two measures, the first of which is to intervene in a labor negotiation with the unions, which is not the responsibility of governments, but of companies,” he explained.

“But under the circumstances we have reached an agreement with the main guilds to optimize practices and reduce even the high labor cost of gas development,” said the secretary.

The second measure, Redondo said, “was requested by the oil industry and is a price of natural gas that will help to quickly start the development of unconventional gas.”

“We have agreed a plan by which we give a price that we consider high for all unconventional gas, which is US $ 7.5 per million Btu (British thermal unit), that is, more than double what is paid In the United States for natural gas, and we will continue to maintain a price very close to that of import for the next five years, “the official promised.

Redondo ratified that the Ministry of Energy and Mining projects occasional exports in the summer of 2020 and “if it develops Vaca Muerta, we will reach 2022 with reasonable self-sufficiency and exportable balances for most of the year, although imports will continue Of Bolivia and LNG (liquefied natural gas) during peak demand. ”

“If we boost production and efficiency, gas supply will grow significantly, by almost 60% over the next 10 years,” he predicted.

As for the prospects of non-conventional hydrocarbons in a broader sense, YPF’s executive manager of Exploration and Development Carlos Colo recalled that the company continues its studies in all the basins in which it is present.

“The objective,” concluded the director, “is to identify new opportunities with a concept of border exploration, and as part of that strategic line we began to develop prospective activities in Los Molles (Mendoza), although we also see opportunities in the Southern and Gulf basins San Jorge (Chubut and Santa Cruz) where we explore with the idea of understanding the subsoil “.

The Foreign Investment and Trade Bank (BICE) obtained a US $ 150 million loan from the China Development Bank, which will be used to finance small and medium-sized investment projects in Argentina, mainly in the Value-added agriculture and renewable energy.

“This is US $ 150 million of financing that we have just closed in very good conditions for the Bank, with a repayment term of seven years and two grace periods, and at a very low rate,” BICE President Pablo García told Télam , From the Chinese capital of Beijing, on the credit obtained for SMEs.

Garcia, who accompanied President Mauricio Macri on his tour of the East, said that “the idea is to pass this credit advantage to SMEs,” and said that “it will be an anchor in pesos, seven years, and an interest of 21 % Annual or at Badlar rate (currently at 19.68%) plus 4.5 percentage points, whichever is lower. ”

“This is part of the result of the Argentine mission (to China), the confidence in the country, that we have returned to the market, and the interest they have to support us,” said the head of BICE, who stressed that ” In the first year of management we increased in lending capacity and doubled disbursements to $ 7 billion, which in 2017 will end up $ 13.5 billion. ”

He said that the Chinese bank “see that we can reach more companies and are willing to take more risk Argentina,” and said that the Asian giant “there is a great interest for Argentina.”

Between 2007 and 2015, the China Development Bank loaned BICE US $ 140 million in three tranches, and this time the agreement represents an amount higher than the sum of the three previous lines over more than eight years.

“There is a lot of interest from the Chinese bank to support everything that has to do with SMEs in value-added agriculture, agricultural products, and renewable energy,” said García, who estimated that with projected disbursements for $ 13.5 billion this year, Will reach about 1,350 small and medium enterprises, given that the average loans are $ 10 million.

During the signing of the agreement between both banks were present, in addition to Garcia and the head of the Chinese institution, Hu Huaibang; The President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, Macri and the Minister of Production, Francisco Cabrera.

“We are working so that Argentine SMEs can grow and improve their productivity and competitiveness. Proof of it is that today the Chinese Development Bank is ready to start a relationship that we are convinced will be more than beneficial for both countries, “said Cabrera.

The European Union ended Monday with the institutional veto it has applied for 20 years to Cuba.

EU Foreign Policy High Representative Federica Mogherini, Foreign Ministers of the Twenty-Eight and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez signed a bilateral agreement that normalizes relations and sets a framework for dialogue for the first time And cooperation between the two territories.

After almost two years of negotiations, the agreement repeals the so-called “common position”, promoted in 1996 by the then Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, which conditioned the negotiations on democratic and human rights advances on the island.

The European Union called on the Cuban government to respect human rights and carry out economic reforms to improve living conditions on the island.

These petitions are part of the new “common position” on Cuba, approved Monday in Brussels by the European Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
In the document, the European Union reiterates that its “objectives” in relation to the island are respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, the transition to a democratic system and the implementation of economic reforms.

The Venezuelans have three days from this Tuesday to exchange in the state financial institutions their 100 bolivars, the highest denomination in Venezuela, after the publication of the respective presidential decree in the official gazette.

The rule was issued within the framework of the state of emergency and economic emergency decreed by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, which has been in force since the beginning of the year, as an “urgent measure to guarantee and defend economic stability”, according to gazette. The decision was made by Maduro last Sunday to deal with alleged Colombian mafias that store paper money to destabilize the country’s economy.

After an exhaustive investigation, it was determined that there are stores not only in several cities of Colombia but also in Brazil, Germany, the Czech Republic and Ukraine, where mafias are accumulating Venezuelan bills, according to the official version.

“An unscrupulous sector enemy of the Homeland has undertaken a strong attack against the Venezuelan currency applying illegal methods of hoarding and extraction of legal tender paper,” reads the official text.

It blames that same “sector” of inflation in the Caribbean country, whose figures have not yet been revealed by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), but which economists predict is one of the highest in the world.

The 100 bolivars that go out of circulation can be exchanged in public banks for other denominations that remain in force, such as those of 50, 20 or 10 bolivars; While those who fail to be changed will lose their power of payment, says the presidential decree. But in the latter case, Venezuelans will have ten more days to go to the box offices arranged by the BCV to exchange their tickets. It is expected that in the coming days a new family of banknotes will progressively replace the current one and will have as its denomination the 20,000 bolivars.

The United States Export-Import Bank said it would begin offering financing in Argentina for the first time since the country’s economic meltdown in 2001 and 2002. In previous decades the bank provided low-rate loans to support local investment, including the construction of one of the main highways leading into this city.

“After 15 years we are open for business,” said ExIm Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg this week in Buenos Aires where he participated in the Business and Investment Forum, organized by the president Mauricio Macri administration.

“We’re willing to finance all possible export import projects, and at the lowest possible rates to support Argentina in its new process”, Hochberg was quoted during a panel at the forum he shared with Commerce Secretary Miguel Braun.

The announcement was confirmed by a release from the Argentine government saying that the Exim bank decision involves both the private and public sectors and responds to an assessment by the US government on different countries’ situation.

These assessments reflect improvements in the financial and economic conditions of Argentina, and thus better prospects for honoring debts and credits.

“I am pleased to announce that beginning 21 September the ExIm bank will resume operations in Argentina and this is an auspicious moment for US and Argentina entrepreneurs to work jointly”, said Hochberg. He added that the bank was prepared to provide the needed financing for those associations.

ExIm bank will provide seven-year financing and is willing to assess the possibility of further more complex financing, and at time terms which eliminate or externalize risks for the country, according to Argentina’s Finance ministry.

The agency estimates that the contraction in activity will result from the combined effect of “rates, inflation and lower consumption”

Who possibly becomes the first woman to head the UN, Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra Argentina, pronounced with respect to the major issues affecting the Mercosur. From research to expresident Argentina Cristina Fernandez, the removal of Dilma Rousseff in Brazil and the political crisis in Venezuela.

Susana Malcorra, currently serving as Argentina’s foreign minister, is understood to have received top-level backing from both the White House and Susan Rice, national security adviser to Barack Obama.

The prospect of an Argentine leading the UN presents Britain with a diplomatic dilemma given the long-running dispute over the Falklands which both Argentina and the UN say must be “decolonised” and returned to Argentina.

President Barack Obama is said to have been won over by arguments in Ms Malcorra’s favour from his Argentine counterpart Mauricio Macri on a visit to Buenos Aires in March that was widely seen as an attempt to re-set US-Argentinian relations.

Britain has been one of the most vociferous of all countries in calling for a woman to head up the UN, for the first time in its 70 year history, but an Argentinian candidacy threatens to expose long-standing disagreements with the US over the Falklands.

The United Nations has since 1964 consistently backed Argentina over the Falklands issue, with its Special Committee on Decolonization once again issuing a resolution last year demanding the UK enter negotiations over the Islands’ sovereignty, a position rejected by Britain.

“The role of UN Secretary General as a very important one, and as a country we believe that the holder of the role will need to understand and apply the Charter of the United Nations,” Michael Poole, the chair of the Legislative Assembly on Port Stanley, told the Telegraph via email

LIMA, Peru—Peru’s tightly-contested election Sunday pits an ex-president’s daughter against a former Wall Street economist, but whoever wins, the country’s embrace of the free market will likely remain strong.

Both Keiko Fujimori, the 41-year-old daughter of jailed former leader Alberto Fujimori, and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a 77-year-old former finance minister and World Bank economist who speaks perfect English, have vowed to retain investment-friendly policies in a country that has become a free-market stalwart in Latin America in the past 15 years.

During the past decade, Peru’s economy has posted some of the highest growth rates in the hemisphere, averaging about 6% a year with inflation at an average of just 2.9% a year, according to the World Bank. That has helped reduce poverty in the country to 22% last year from almost 56% in 2005, the bank says.

A new Venezuelan government document, dated Aug. 14, 2015, was leaked to local media sources and published on Sept. 16, according to a report from the PanAm Post. The document reveals that the current shortage rate for most items is at 70%; it also stated that Venezuelans now have absolutely no access to 15 specific food items, 18 personal care items, and eight cleaning products due to the shortages.

The findings were part of a larger study conducted by Venezuela’s Office of the Vice President, and the leaked document indicates that it’s the 19th study conducted by the government to measure its shortages. This is the first time, however, that the media has ever accessed an official government document regarding the country’s shortages; the last time President Maduro’s office released information on Venezuela’s shortages was back in February 2014.

Of the food items measured, the easiest product to find was pasteurized fruit juice (which has a shortage rate of 43%) while the most scarce products are fruit compotes (with a shortage rate of 92%).

As for personal care items and cleaning products, 96% of the stores surveyed did not have baby diapers in stock and 42% lacked toothpaste. Laundry detergent is only missing 67% of the time from store shelves — and it’s actually one of the easier cleaning products to find — while dishwasher soap is only available in 88% of Venezuelan stores.

According to the latest reports (dated July 2015), the average Venezuelan family would have to bring in 8.8 minimum-wage salaries in order to cover the cost of essential items. But with the country’s overall shortage rate at 36.2% this past August, many families can’t even find the items to begin with.