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Source: ExxonMobil Weighs Offers for Argentina Shale Assets

FILE PHOTO: ExxonMobil logo is seen in this illustration taken, October 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: ExxonMobil logo is seen in this illustration taken, October 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Source: ExxonMobil Weighs Offers for Argentina Shale Assets

FILE PHOTO: ExxonMobil logo is seen in this illustration taken, October 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: ExxonMobil logo is seen in this illustration taken, October 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

US energy giant ExxonMobil Corp is weighing offers for its oil and gas assets in Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale region, a source familiar with the plan said on Friday, adding there was no time frame for a decision and the sale may not move forward.
Bloomberg earlier on Friday reported that ExxonMobil was exploring a $1 billion sale of its shale assets in the South American country, a process that started last year.
"The process began in August, it continues to advance and the offers are being evaluated," the source said, asking not to be named as the matter was confidential. The person added that the firm had received offers earlier this month.
"At the beginning of February they presented binding offers. There is no time or due date to provide a response to say how the operation continues. They are being evaluated by the shareholders," the source said.
Earlier this week, Mexican firm Vista Energy , Argentina's second-largest shale oil producer behind state-owned YPF, publicly expressed its interest in Exxon's Vaca Muerta assets.
"They have interesting assets. And yes, we are looking into that," Vista CEO Miguel Galuccio said on a conference call on Wednesday.
Exxon's assets in Argentina include stakes it owns in seven oil-and-gas blocks in Vaca Muerta.
The company declined to comment on the matter when contacted by Reuters.
Argentina, battling an economic crisis, is betting on Vaca Muerta, the world's second-largest shale gas reserve and fourth-largest for shale oil, to turn the country into an energy powerhouse and curb dependence on costly imports.
The source told Reuters that any sale, if it went ahead, would not be a "political" decision but part of a wider portfolio management. It also would not include a large global service center with some 3,000 employees in Buenos Aires, the person added.
Argentina's new right-wing libertarian President Javier Milei is contending with a severe economic crisis, with inflation running at more than 250%, depleted foreign currency reserves, and strict capital controls to defend the peso currency.
The economic crisis has created challenges for companies operating in the country, though the government is making a major push to ramp up investment in Vaca Muerta.

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The Worst Market Crashes Since 1929 

A screen displaying the closing Hang Seng Index at Central district, in Hong Kong, China, April 7, 2025. (Reuters)
A screen displaying the closing Hang Seng Index at Central district, in Hong Kong, China, April 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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The Worst Market Crashes Since 1929 

A screen displaying the closing Hang Seng Index at Central district, in Hong Kong, China, April 7, 2025. (Reuters)
A screen displaying the closing Hang Seng Index at Central district, in Hong Kong, China, April 7, 2025. (Reuters)

Monday's stock market collapses in Asia and Europe after China retaliated to steep US tariffs revived memories of similar market turmoil after the Covid pandemic and the last global financial crisis.

Analysts called the falls "historic" and some even described it as a "bloodbath", recalling previous collapses since the start of the last century.

Global stocks crashed in March 2020 after the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic, putting much of the world under lockdown.

On March 12, 2020 -- the day after the announcement -- Paris fell 12 percent, Madrid 14 percent and Milan 17 percent. London dropped 11 percent and New York 10 percent in the worst fall since 1987.

Further falls came over the following days, with US indexes dropping more than 12 percent.

The rapid response by national governments, which dug deep to keep their economies afloat, helped most markets rebound within months.

The 2008 global financial crisis was caused by bankers in the United States giving subprime mortgages to people on shaky financial footing and then selling them off as investments, fueling a housing boom.

When borrowers became unable to pay their mortgages, millions lost their homes, the stock market crashed and the banking system buckled, culminating with the dramatic bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers.

From January to October that year, the world's main stock markets fell between 30 and 50 percent.

The start of the millennium saw the deflation of the tech bubble caused by venture capitalists throwing money at unproven companies.

From a record 5,048.62 points on March 10, 2000, the US tech-heavy Nasdaq index lost 39.3 percent in value over the year.

Many internet startups went out of business.

Wall Street crashed on October 19, 1987, on the back of large US trade and budget deficits and interest rates hikes.

The Dow Jones index lost 22.6 percent, causing panic on markets worldwide.

October 24, 1929 became known as "Black Thursday" on Wall Street after a bull market imploded, causing the Dow Jones to lose more than 22 percent of its value at the start of trade.

Stocks recouped most lost ground during the day but the rot set in: October 28 and 29 also saw huge losses in a crisis that marked the beginning of the Great Depression in the United States and a global economic crisis.