YPF SA (YPF) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Kathleen, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the YPF First Quarter 2024 Earnings Webcast Presentation. (Operator Instructions) Thank you. I will now turn the call over to Margarita Chun, Investor Relations Manager. Please go ahead.

謝謝你的支持。我叫凱瑟琳，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。現在，我歡迎大家參加 YPF 2024 年第一季財報網路廣播展示。 （操作員說明）謝謝。我現在將把電話轉給投資者關係經理 Margarita Chun。請繼續。

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is Margarita Chun, YPF IR Manager. Thank you for joining us today in our fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. This presentation will be conducted by our CFO, Mr. Federico Barroetavena; and our Strategy, Business Development and Control Vice President, Mr. Maximiliano Westen. During the presentation, we will go through the main aspects and events that explain the quarter results.

早安，女士們先生們。我是 YPF IR 經理 Margarita Chun。感謝您今天參加我們的 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。本次演講將由我們的財務長 Federico Barroetavena 先生主持；以及我們的策略、業務開發和控制副總裁 Maximiliano Westen 先生。在演示過程中，我們將介紹解釋季度業績的主要方面和事件。

And then we will open the floor for Q&A session, together with our senior management. Before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to our cautionary statement on slide 2. Please take into consideration that our remarks today and answers to your questions may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from the expectations contemplated by these remarks. Our financial figures are stated in accordance with IFRS, but during the presentation, we might discuss some non-IFRS measures, such as adjusted EBITDA.

然後我們將與我們的高階管理層一起開始問答環節。在我們開始之前，我想提請您注意幻燈片2 上的警示性聲明。實際情況的發生。我們的財務數據是根據 IFRS 表述的，但在演示過程中，我們可能會討論一些非 IFRS 指標，例如調整後的 EBITDA。

I will turn the call over to Federico. Please go ahead.

我會將電話轉給費德里科。請繼續。

Thank you, Margarita, and good morning to all of you. Before moving to the purpose of this call, as you may know, the company's functional currency is U.S. dollar. And since 2022, we have reported annual financial statements in both currencies U.S. dollar and Argentine peso. The company believes that reporting in U.S. dollars provides general investors with a better understanding of the company's business and activities and analysis of our financial performance. Accordingly, as of this quarter, the company took the initiative to start reporting quarterly financial statements also in both currencies.

謝謝你，瑪格麗塔，祝大家早安。在討論本次電話會議的目的之前，您可能知道，該公司的功能貨幣是美元。自 2022 年以來，我們以美元和阿根廷比索兩種貨幣報告年度財務報表。該公司相信，以美元進行報告可以讓一般投資者更了解公司的業務和活動以及對我們的財務表現的分析。因此，從本季開始，該公司主動開始以兩種貨幣報告季度財務報表。

Now let me start the presentation by highlighting that this was a quarter in which we were able to deliver a solid beginning of the year across all our key operating and financial metrics. Revenues amounted to $4.3 billion in Q1, growing by 3% sequentially and 2% inter-annually mainly on the back of better fuel prices in the domestic market and higher exports of oil, partially offset by demand contraction in local fuels and fertilizers. Also in Q4, our subsidiaries with functional currency in Argentine peso were affected by the deval of mid-December.

現在，讓我在演講開始時強調，在這個季度中，我們在所有關鍵營運和財務指標上都取得了良好的開局。第一季營收達 43 億美元，季增 3%，年增 2%，主要得益於國內市場燃料價格上漲和石油出口增加，但部分被當地燃料和化肥需求收縮所抵銷。同樣在第四季度，我們以阿根廷比索為功能貨幣的子公司也受到了 12 月中旬貶值的影響。

Adjusted EBITDA recorded a strong evolution during Q1, totaling $1,245 million, 15% up sequentially, mostly driven by the aforementioned factors, in addition to a decreased OpEx after the devaluation and lower imports of fuel combined with higher processing levels at our refineries. These effects were partially offset by reduced FX regime for exporters and lower replacement cost of our inventories. Inter-annually, adjusted EBITDA growth was even higher, particularly boosted by a remarkable 7% expansion in oil production while exporting 23,000 barrels per day to Chile in Q1.

第一季調整後EBITDA 出現強勁成長，總計12.45 億美元，比上一季成長15%，這主要是由上述因素推動的，此外，貨幣貶值後營運支出下降、燃料進口減少以及煉油廠加工水準提高。這些影響被出口商外匯制度的減少和庫存重置成本的降低部分抵消。年際間，調整後的 EBITDA 成長甚至更高，特別是在第一季向智利出口 23,000 桶/日的石油產量顯著成長 7% 的推動下。

The strong operating results enable our bottom line to become positive at $657 million in Q1, which also almost doubled the $341 million of Q1 '23. Total hydrocarbon production reached 526,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, pricing 3% sequentially and inter-annually driven by a sound performance in our shale operations, particularly in shale oil, which recorded 21% inter-annual increase. In terms of our investment activities, we started the year deploying $1,252 million, decreasing by 15% sequentially and 4% inter-annually mainly due to the devaluation impact mentioned before.

強勁的經營業績使我們第一季的淨利潤達到 6.57 億美元，幾乎是 23 年第一季 3.41 億美元的兩倍。碳氫化合物總產量達到每天 526,000 桶石油當量，價格環比和年際增長 3%，這得益於我們頁岩業務的良好表現，特別是頁岩油，年際增長 21%。就我們的投資活動而言，我們年初部署了 12.52 億美元，環比下降 15%，年比下降 4%，主要是由於前面提到的貶值影響。

More than 50% of the quarter investment was concentrated in shale operations, in line with our strategy for the short term. On the financial side, free cash flow totaled a negative $394 million as the deployment of our CapEx payment of imports deferred from 2023 and debt service were not fully compensated by the positive cash flow from operations, taking our net debt to $7.2 billion while maintaining the net leverage ratio at 1.7x fully aligned with the target of the year.

本季超過 50% 的投資集中在頁岩油業務，符合我們的短期策略。在財務方面，自由現金流總計為負3.94 億美元，因為我們從2023 年開始推遲進口資本支出支付，而債務清償並沒有被營運產生的正現金流完全補償，使我們的淨債務達到72 億美元，同時維持淨槓桿1.7倍，完全符合全年目標。

Going forward, we will continue monitoring the evolution of Argentina's macro context, particularly the cost inflation evolution. We will concentrate our efforts to exploit the opportunities that we have ahead of us, reaffirming our shale oil-oriented growth strategy and focusing on generating value for our shareholders while maintaining financial prudency in our decisions.

展望未來，我們將繼續監測阿根廷宏觀環境的演變，特別是成本通膨的演變。我們將集中精力利用眼前的機遇，重申以頁岩油為導向的成長策略，專注於為股東創造價值，同時在決策中保持財務審慎。

I now turn the call over to Max to go through the operating results for the quarter.

我現在將電話轉給馬克斯，讓他查看本季的營運表現。

Thank you, Federico. Let me begin by expanding on Federico's comments about our Upstream segment. During the first quarter, total hydrocarbon production grew by 3% quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, driven by shale contribution, which continued on an upward trend now representing almost half of the total output. Zooming into crude oil, total output continued high in the range of 255,000 barrels of oil per day on the back of shale growth of 21% year-on-year, offsetting the marginal decline in conventional fields.

謝謝你，費德里科。讓我先詳細闡述費德里科對我們上游業務的評論。第一季度，在頁岩油貢獻的推動下，碳氫化合物總產量環比和同比增長了3%，頁岩油產量持續呈上升趨勢，目前幾乎佔總產量的一半。原油方面，頁岩油年增21%，總產量持續維持在25.5萬桶/日的高位，抵銷了常規油田的邊際下降。

Also, let me mention that on the conventional side, 9% came from tertiary production, increasing by 34% inter-annually and minimizing the impact of natural decline in mature fields. Beyond crude oil, natural gas and NGL production grew by 6% on a sequential basis on the back of demand recovery, delivering above 36 million cubic meters per day and 42,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, respectively, both figures similar to the first quarter last year.

另外，我要提一下，在常規方面，9%來自三次生產，年際成長34%，最大限度地減少了成熟油田自然衰退的影響。除原油外，在需求復甦的推動下，天然氣和液化天然氣產量較上季增加 6%，產量分別超過 3,600 萬立方公尺/日和 42,000 桶油當量/日，這兩個數字與第一季相似。

Moving to lifting cost, it reached almost $13 per barrel of oil equivalent in the first quarter, 16% below the previous quarter, primarily driven by the sharp devaluation in mid-December 2023, increased production and cost efficiency, such as tariff reduction on supply chain. It also impacted the lifting cost at our shale core-hub blocks that stood at $3.4 per barrel of oil equivalent on a gross basis, 15% down quarter-on-quarter, way below the already competitive range of $4 that we recorded during the last year.

轉向成本提升，第一季達到每桶石油當量近 13 美元，比上一季下降 16%，這主要是由於 2023 年 12 月中旬的大幅貶值、產量增加和成本效率提高（例如供應關稅降低）鏈。它也影響了我們頁岩核心樞紐區塊的提升成本，總成本為每桶油當量 3.4 美元，環比下降 15%，遠低於我們去年記錄的 4 美元的競爭範圍。

Regarding prices in the Upstream segment, crude oil realization prices averaged $68.3 per barrel in the first quarter, representing a strong recovery of 15% quarter-on-quarter, mainly as a result of better pricing landscape in the local market. On the natural gas side, prices remained essentially flat at $3 per million BTU, mostly derived from the off-peak season price of Plan Gas. Tuning into our [sale activity]; during the first quarter, we drilled 43 new horizontal wells in our operated blocks, mostly oil producing blocks and only one targeting shale gas. We also completed 29 wells, all of them oil. Moreover, we tied in 39 wells being 92% of oil.

上游價格方面，第一季原油平均實現價格為每桶68.3美元，較上季強勁回升15%，主要是由於當地市場定價環境較好。天然氣方面，價格基本持平，維持在每百萬英熱單位 3 美元，主要來自 Plan Gas 的淡季價格。收聽我們的[銷售活動]；第一季度，我們在營運區塊鑽探了 43 口新水平井，其中大部分是產油區塊，只有 1 口是針對頁岩氣區塊。我們也完成了 29 口井，全部都是石油。此外，我們也探明了 39 口井，含油率為 92%。

All these metrics are aligned with the company's strategy to monetize shale oil opportunities in the short term together with the ongoing oil midstream expansions. It is also worth noting that shale oil production achieved once again a new record high, delivering 112,000 barrels per day with a 3% sequential growth, accumulating an increase of 60% over the last two years. 87% of our shale oil production came from our core-hub oil blocks Loma Campana, La Amarga Chica, Bandurria Sur and Aguada del Chanar. In terms of efficiencies within our shale operations, the first quarter, we continued setting new quarterly records on drilling and fracking performance, averaging 290 meters per day in drilling and 219 stages per set per month on fracking.

所有這些指標都符合該公司在短期內將頁岩油機會貨幣化以及正在進行的石油中游擴張的策略。值得注意的是，頁岩油產量再次創下歷史新高，產量達11.2萬桶/日，季增3%，近兩年累計成長60%。我們 87% 的頁岩油產量來自核心樞紐石油區塊 Loma Campana、La Amarga Chica、Bandurria Sur 和 Aguada del Chanar。在頁岩油作業效率方面，第一季度，我們繼續創下鑽井和壓裂業績季度新紀錄，平均每天鑽井 290 米，每月平均每組 219 級。

These are improvements of 23% and 12% respectively versus the first quarter 2023 and fully in line with the guidance we announced during the last annual call. It is important to mention that during last February, we achieved the highest drilling speed for one well in (inaudible) block, reaching 475 meters per day for a well almost 4,000 meters of horizontal length, which was fully drilled in 15 days. As a result, we posted another quarter of competitive development costs for our core-hub oil operations at $10.3 per barrel of oil equivalent, which is slightly above sequentially due to higher activity to accelerate the development of our core-hub blocks rather than Loma Campana, which is our flagship block in Vaca Muerta.

與 2023 年第一季相比，這些數字分別提高了 23% 和 12%，完全符合我們在上次年度電話會議上宣布的指導。值得一提的是，去年2月，我們實現了（聽不清楚）區塊單井最高鑽速，水平長度近4,000公尺的井達到了475公尺/天，15天就完全鑽完。因此，我們的核心樞紐石油業務又一個季度具有競爭力的開發成本為每桶油當量10.3 美元，略高於上一季度，因為加速我們的核心樞紐區塊（而不是洛馬坎帕納）開發的活動較多。

Inter-annually, the improvement was mainly due to a restated figure for the first quarter 2023, especially on the back of a lower performance driven by parent-child effects. In addition, we move forward with the strategy of exploring new shale opportunities beyond Vaca Muerta. In that sense, a few days ago, we finished drilling the first horizontal well at El Cerrito block and (inaudible) formation, which is the second largest unconventional resource in Argentina after Vaca Muerta. We will advance with the completion in the following months to continue exploring its potential in the coming years.

年比來看，這一改善主要是由於對 2023 年第一季的數據進行了重述，特別是在親子效應導致業績下降的背景下。此外，我們也持續實施在 Vaca Muerta 以外探索新頁岩油機會的策略。從這個意義上說，幾天前，我們完成了 El Cerrito 區塊和（聽不清楚）地層的第一口水平井鑽探，這是阿根廷僅次於 Vaca Muerta 的第二大非常規資源。我們將在接下來的幾個月內推進竣工，以繼續探索其未來幾年的潛力。

On the conventional side, a few days ago, we started drilling the first offshore ultra-deepwater well Argerich, located 35 kilometers from the Port of Mar Del Plata in the province of Buenos Aires. We expect drilling works will take around 2 months. Before moving to the next section, let me update on the progress made in Andes project that aims at optimizing the portfolio of conventional assets in our Upstream business. We have already appointed the bank to manage this process and move forward with our virtual [data room] last month. We expect to receive offers by June on track with the project's timeline.

在常規方面，幾天前，我們開始鑽探第一口海上超深水井Argerich，距離布宜諾斯艾利斯省馬德普拉塔港35公里。我們預計鑽探工程將耗時約 2 個月。在進入下一部分之前，讓我先介紹一下Andes專案所取得的進展，該專案旨在優化我們上游業務的傳統資產組合。我們已經指定銀行來管理這項流程，並在上個月推進我們的虛擬[數據室]。我們預計在 6 月之前收到報價，與專案時間表相符。

Now let me briefly comment on the progress achieved in the oil midstream expansions to unlock evacuation capacity in the Neuquina Basin. Regarding the evacuation to the Pacific during the first quarter, YPF continued growing all exports to Chile through the Trans-Andean pipeline, which is also connected to our core-hub blocks through the Vaca Muerta North piling. We exported almost 23,000 barrels of oil per day, which is 22% more than the fourth quarter, representing 9% of our oil production and totaling net export revenues of around $155 million.

現在讓我簡要評論石油中游擴建以釋放內烏基納盆地疏散能力所取得的進展。關於第一季向太平洋的疏散，YPF 透過跨安第斯管道繼續增加對智利的所有出口，該管道還透過瓦卡穆爾塔北打樁連接到我們的核心樞紐區塊。我們每天出口近 23,000 桶石油，比第四季增加 22%，占我們石油產量的 9%，淨出口收入總額約為 1.55 億美元。

We expect to increase export volumes gradually in the coming months, also raising the mix of shale, which is even lighter than the conventional oil of the Neuquina Basin since our client successfully completed the testing of its refineries to process the lighter crude oil mix. Switching to the evacuation capacity to the Atlantic on the one hand, (inaudible) estimates to add around 45,000 barrels per day to its system by year-end and 200 more by mid-2025. On the other hand, YPF is leading the Vaca Muerta South project, a completely new pipeline with export terminal, reaching an initial capacity of over 180,000 barrels per day by 2026, and amounting to more than 360,000 barrels per day by 2027, '28.

我們預計在未來幾個月內逐步增加出口量，同時提高頁岩油的含量，頁岩油比 Neuquina 盆地的常規石油更輕，因為我們的客戶成功完成了煉油廠加工較輕原油混合物的測試。一方面，將疏散能力轉向大西洋（聽不清楚），預計到年底，其係統每天將增加約 45,000 桶石油，到 2025 年中期將增加 200 桶。另一方面，YPF 正在領導 Vaca Muerta South 項目，這是一條帶有出口終端的全新管道，到 2026 年初始產能將達到每天 18 萬桶以上，到 2027 年將達到每天 36 萬桶以上，'28。

During the quarter, we obtained the environmental permits for the whole project and launched the EPC tender expected to be awarded by year-end. Keep in mind that this project has the possibility to expand to more than 700,000 barrels per day by adding pumping stations. Switching to our downstream operations in terms of refinery utilization, processing levels averaged 301,000 barrels per day, increasing by 4% sequentially since the fourth quarter was negatively impacted by program maintenance stoppages at La Plata refinery. Inter-annually, processing levels declined by 2%, mainly because during this quarter, La Plata refinery was affected by (inaudible) Terminal unavailability to deliver crude oil which was partially restored by the end of the first quarter in addition to heavy rains and flooding in nearby areas.

本季度，我們獲得了整個計畫的環保許可，並啟動了EPC招標，預計年底前中標。請記住，該專案有可能透過增加泵站將產量擴大到每天 70 萬桶以上。就煉油廠利用率而言，轉向下游業務，加工水平平均為每天 301,000 桶，自第四季度受到拉普拉塔煉油廠計劃維護停工的負面影響以來，環比增長 4%。年際加工水準下降了2%，主要是因為本季度拉普拉塔煉油廠受到（聽不清楚）原油輸送終端無法使用的影響，除了大雨和洪水之外，該終端在第一季末已部分恢復。

This effect was offset in part by better performance at Lujan de Cuyo refinery, where we recorded the highest monthly processing mark in March. Consequently, we reached more than 90% of refinery utilization factor. Regarding the domestic sales of fuels, total dispatch volumes decreased by 11% quarter-on-quarter, mainly because of retail demand contraction and lower diesel seasonality, dropping 14% in diesel and 7% in gasoline. Inter-annually it was only 2% down as a result of 4% contraction in diesel affected by lower industrial and agri business activity while gasoline remained almost flat.

這種影響被 Lujan de Cuyo 煉油廠更好的業績所部分抵消，我們在該煉​​油廠 3 月創下了最高的月度加工記錄。因此，我們的煉油廠利用率達到了90%以上。國內燃料銷售方面，總出貨量較上季下降11%，主要是因為零售需求收縮和柴油季節性下降，其中柴油下降14%，汽油下降7%。年際間僅下降 2%，原因是受工業和農業商業活動減少影響，柴油價格下降 4%，而汽油價格幾乎持平。

It is worth mentioning that despite fuel demand drop in Argentina, YPF was able to gain market share, growing 8% in gasoline and 3% in diesel inter-annually, capturing almost 60% of local fuel market share. Moreover, and quite important for the downstream margins, lower demand of fuel was translated into lower imports, representing only 4% of total fuel sales volumes compared to 12% in the first quarter 2023. In terms of prices, during the first quarter, YPF continued adjusting local fuel prices aiming at mitigating the impact of the devaluation while managing to reduce the spread versus international parties.

值得一提的是，儘管阿根廷燃料需求下降，YPF仍能獲得市場份額，汽油年增長率為8%，柴油年增長率為3%，佔據了當地燃料市場近60%的份額。此外，對下游利潤率來說非常重要的是，燃料需求的下降轉化為進口量的減少，僅佔燃料總銷量的4%，而2023 年第一季為12%。季度繼續調整當地燃料價格，旨在減輕貶值的影響，同時設法縮小與國際各方的價差。

As a result, average fuel prices measured in dollars increased by 11% sequentially and 5% inter-annually, narrowing the gap to import parity to 7% in the first quarter compared to 20% in the previous quarter. On the other hand, local crude oil price recovered in the first quarter were Medanito price averaged $68 per barrel, representing a discount of 10% versus export parity compared to 24% in the fourth quarter of 2023.

結果，以美元計算的平均燃料價格環比上漲 11%，年比上漲 5%，將第一季與進口平價的差距縮小至 7%，而上一季為 20%。另一方面，當地原油價格在第一季回升，Medanito 平均價格為每桶 68 美元，較出口平價折價 10%，而 2023 年第四季為 24%。

Thanks to all of you. This is all on my end. I will now turn back to Federico to go through our financial results for the quarter.

謝謝大家。這一切都由我來決定。我現在將請費德里科回顧我們本季的財務表現。

Thank you, Max. Switching to the financial front, cash flow from operations in Q1 amounted to almost $1.1 billion. Despite the increase in adjusted EBITDA, negative working capital variations affected Q1. There were temporary deferred payment of imported goods and services from last year to Q1 and some delays in the collection from certain gas clients. Given the deployment of our capital expenditure, coupled with a regular interest payments free cash flow came at a negative $394 million.

謝謝你，麥克斯。轉向財務方面，第一季營運現金流量接近 11 億美元。儘管調整後的 EBITDA 有所增加，但營運資本的負變化影響了第一季。從去年到第一季度，進口商品和服務的付款出現暫時延期，某些天然氣客戶的收款也出現了一些延遲。鑑於我們的資本支出部署，加上定期支付的利息，自由現金流為負 3.94 億美元。

Consequently, our net debt increased to $7.2 billion while maintaining a stable net leverage ratio of 1.7x. In terms of financing, during Q1, we issued an amortizing 7-year export secured bond or $800 million with a yield of 9.75%. Part of the proceeds was disbursed to prepay in cash, 40% of the 2024 notes for $138 million, while the balance of $208 million was fully paid at maturity on April 4. Additionally, we continue securing trade facilities, both with local and international banks and paid at maturity almost $100 million of principal amortizations of international notes.

因此，我們的淨債務增加至 72 億美元，同時保持穩定的 1.7 倍淨槓桿率。融資方面，第一季我們發行了7年攤銷出口擔保債券8億美元，殖利率9.75%。部分收益以現金預付，其中 2024 年票據的 40% 為 1.38 億美元，餘下的 2.08 億美元已於 4 月 4 日到期時全額支付。在到期時支付近1億美元的國際票據本金攤銷。

On the liquidity front, our cash and short-term investments increased 15% sequentially to $1.6 billion by the end of March, primarily as a result of the new bond issuance. Finally, when looking into our debt profile, I would like to highlight that our [healthy] liquidity position comfortably covers our debt amortization for the next 12 months.

在流動性方面，截至 3 月底，我們的現金和短期投資環比增長 15%，達到 16 億美元，這主要是由於新債券的發行。最後，在研究我們的債務狀況時，我想強調的是，我們的[健康]流動性狀況可以輕鬆覆蓋未來 12 個月的債務攤銷。

So with this, we conclude our presentation and open the floor for questions.

我們的演講到此結束並開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Luiz Carvalho of UBS.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自瑞銀集團 (UBS) 的路易斯卡瓦略 (Luiz Carvalho)。

Can you hear me well?

你聽得清楚我說話嗎？

Yes, we can hear you.

是的，我們能聽到你的聲音。

And congratulations on the results. I have basically two questions here. The first one, if you can give a bit more color and provide an update on the divestment process? How do you think that the development has been going so far? What are the potential, I would say, milestones that we should look in the next, I would say, in the next couple of quarters. The second question is more related to cost reduction. I think that part of the, let's say, the strategy is to, I don't know, optimize the, let's say, the asset portfolio, but you may have good opportunities to streamline into the cost overall. So I would like to get a bit more details how the company is seeing, I would say, the cost reduction journey.

祝賀結果。我在這裡基本上有兩個問題。第一個，您能否提供更多資訊並提供撤資流程的最新資訊？您認為迄今為止的發展進展如何？我想說，我們應該在接下來的幾季裡尋找哪些潛在的里程碑。第二個問題更多的是與降低成本有關。我認為策略的一部分是，我不知道，優化資產組合，但你可能有很好的機會來簡化整體成本。因此，我想了解更多關於公司如何看待成本降低之旅的細節。

Thank you, Luiz. We will start with the first question regarding the divestment process.

謝謝你，路易斯。我們將從有關撤資過程的第一個問題開始。

Yeah. Thank you very much. This is Max speaking. I'm going to update you on the divestment process. First, let me mention that we are on schedule on what we explained during the last call. The progress that we made between the last call and this one is that we've -- yeah, we -- between April 16 and 19, we went to a road show that started here in Buenos Aires. We -- in the Canadian Embassy -- then we've had a meeting in the U.S. in Houston and in Calgary.

是的。非常感謝。這是麥克斯的演講。我將向您通報撤資流程的最新情況。首先，我要提一下，我們正在按照上次電話會議中解釋的計劃進行。我們在上次通話和這通通話之間的進展是，我們——是的，我們——在 4 月 16 日至 19 日期間，我們參加了在布宜諾斯艾利斯開始的巡迴演出。我們——在加拿大大使館——然後我們在美國休士頓和卡加利舉行了會議。

With the meeting in Calgary, we finished our premarketing stage. The following week, we've opened a VDR at this stage, what I can say is that there are many CAs and a lot of companies working already with the information that we disclosed in the VDR. So we are quite bullish about this process. And the other thing I can mention is that we are expecting offers or proposals during mid-June, targeting to close on these transactions during the second half of the year.

透過卡加利的會議，我們完成了預行銷階段。接下來的一周，我們在這個階段開設了 VDR，我可以說的是，有很多 CA 和很多公司已經在使用我們在 VDR 中披露的資訊。所以我們非常看好這個過程。我可以提到的另一件事是，我們預計在六月中旬收到報價或建議，目標是在今年下半年完成這些交易。

Thank you, Max. And regarding the second question regarding efficiency, cost reduction in the quarter. We have here Feder, our CFO.

謝謝你，麥克斯。關於第二個問題，即本季的效率和成本降低。這裡有我們的財務長費德。

Thank you, [Bruno]. I believe that your question is trying to focus more on the impact on the devaluation along the first quarter and how this is going to be affecting us further along the rest of the year. So let me tell you that so far, since the new government took office in December, we see that the main focus has been stabilizing the macro following the implementation of these some sharp measures. Now during this quarter, the key developments that we have seen are mainly: number one is that monthly inflation more than helped from 26% in December to about 11% in March.

謝謝你，[布魯諾]。我認為你的問題是試圖更多地關注第一季貶值的影響，以及這將如何進一步影響我們今年剩餘時間。所以我告訴大家，從去年12月新政府上任以來，我們看到主要的著力點是穩定宏觀，採取了一些嚴厲的措施。在本季度，我們看到的主要進展主要是：第一，每月通膨率從 12 月的 26% 上升到 3 月的 11% 左右。

Second, the FX gap between the official and parallel has tightened from over [200] to approximately 20%. This is the lowest level in four years. Then the (inaudible) drop from 2,000 basis points to 1,200 basis points. And again, this is the lowest since 2020. And then the [Net] Central Bank reserves have increased by about $10 billion since December 2023. And we expect to become -- let's say the expectation is that they become positive shortly. So all-in-all, and finally, and probably as a key driver behind all these results, what we observed is that during the first quarter, the government implemented a strict fiscal policy that achieved fiscal surpluses in each consecutive month for the first time since 2008.

其次，官方與平行之間的外匯差距已從[200]以上收緊至約20%。這是四年來的最低水準。然後（聽不清楚）從 2,000 個基點下降到 1,200 個基點。再說一遍，這是 2020 年以來的最低水準。總而言之，最後，也許作為所有這些結果背後的關鍵驅動因素，我們觀察到的是，在第一季度，政府實施了嚴格的財政政策，首次實現了連續每月的財政盈餘自2008年以來。

Now and probably going to the root of your question, looking for the rest of the year, according to the Market Expectation Survey of the Central Bank, the (inaudible) in Spanish is now forecasting on the one hand, a reduction in monthly inflation credit from 9% in April to 5% by the end of the year. This will result in a total inflation of approximately [160] towards year end, which compares positively with the [211] we had in 2023.

現在，可能要回到您問題的根源，根據央行的市場預期調查，尋找今年剩餘時間，西班牙語（聽不清楚）現在一方面預測每月通膨信貸將減少從4月份的9%增至年底的5%。這將導致年底時的總通膨率約為 [160]，與 2023 年的 [211] 相比，通膨率呈正值。

Now on the other hand, in terms of FX evolution, the same survey expects the continuity of the current (inaudible) with some converging adjustments during the second half of the year, but now with the indication that this will be done without considering discrete hikes. Now all-in-all, Bruno, assuming that this scenario where inflation remains above currency depreciation the company and the management will continue to monitor strictly all key cost variables looking for industrial efficiencies in order to mitigate its impacts on margin.

另一方面，就外匯演變而言，同一項調查預計當前（聽不清楚）的連續性將在下半年進行一些趨同調整，但現在有跡象表明，這將在不考慮離散加息的情況下完成。現在總而言之，布魯諾，假設通貨膨脹仍然高於貨幣貶值，公司和管理層將繼續嚴格監控所有關鍵成本變量，尋找工業效率，以減輕其對利潤率的影響。

Okay. If I may, just a follow-up on this one. If you can maybe provide a bit more general update in terms of the -- you already mentioned about the fuel price (technical difficulty) but also with regards to new innovations being (technical difficulty) in the country at the moment and how I would say, you see YPF positioned to potential, I don't know, adjustment of the regulatory framework looking forward.

好的。如果可以的話，我只是對此的後續行動。如果您可以提供一些更全面的更新，您已經提到了燃油價格（技術難度），而且還提到了目前該國的新創新（技術難度），我會怎麼說，你看YPF的定位是潛力，我不知道，監管框架的調整值得期待。

Basically, I understand Bruno, you are -- you would like to have our views on the new legislative measures that are being discussed now in the Congress.

基本上，我理解布魯諾，您想了解我們對國會目前正在討論的新立法措施的看法。

Yeah, exactly (technical difficulty).

是的，確實如此（技術難度）。

Okay. Excellent, excellent. Well, Bruno, as you know, the new administration brought a radical transformation and the regulation agenda. This was implemented through the Decree 70 and the Bases Bill both currently subject to the review and approval by the Congress. Now regarding the Bases Law, the draft Bill declares a public emergency in several [months].

好的。優秀，優秀。嗯，布魯諾，如你所知，新政府帶來了徹底的變革和監管議程。這是透過第 70 號法令和《基礎法案》實施的，目前這兩項法案均須經國會審查和批准。現在就《基本法》而言，該法案草案宣布幾個月後進入公共緊急狀態。

This is for a period of one year, and it delegates a series of legislative powers to the executive branch during this emergency. Now specifically for the oil and gas industry in general and to YPF, the new bill aims to restore the economic balance in the energy sector by introducing three main objectives. In our view, number one is it removes almost all restrictions of the hydrocarbon sector aiming to correlating prices to import and export parities.

該期限為期一年，在緊急狀態下向行政部門授予一系列立法權。現在，新法案專門針對整個石油和天然氣產業以及 YPF，旨在透過引入三個主要目標來恢復能源產業的經濟平衡。我們認為，第一是它取消了碳氫化合物行業的幾乎所有限制，旨在將價格與進出口比價聯繫起來。

Then it creates an incentive regime for large investment called (inaudible), which especially is critical to YPF, to YPF and to the entire gas industry for the Argentine LNG project. And lastly, the deal reaffirms that international trade of oil and gas should be free of any restrictions. In this sense, it is important to highlight that as the oil market is not formally regulated in Argentina, this new regulatory framework is not a necessary enabler to continue developing our shale oil resources in Vaca Muerta. Anyhow, the main impact on our business is related to the development of the LNG project, as I said which depends on the new incentive regime for large investment projects.

然後，它創建了一個稱為（聽不清楚）的大型投資激勵制度，這對於 YPF、YPF 以及阿根廷液化天然氣項目的整個天然氣行業尤其重要。最後，該協議重申石油和天然氣的國際貿易不應受到任何限制。從這個意義上說，重要的是要強調，由於阿根廷的石油市場沒有受到正式監管，這個新的監管框架並不是繼續開發瓦卡穆爾塔頁岩油資源的必要推動力。無論如何，對我們業務的主要影響與液化天然氣項目的發展有關，正如我所說，這取決於新的大型投資項目的激勵制度。

Your next question comes from the line of Bruno Montanari of Morgan Stanley.

你的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的布魯諾·蒙塔納裡。

I have three on my side here. The first one on Vaca Muerta Sur, so is the final investment decision taken for the pipeline? And do you have a firm interest from other oil producers already to [beat] equity partners in the project? And I was wondering how does Vaca Muerta Sur would compare or compete with the potential further duplication of Oldelval, which could be also on the table here?

我這邊有三個人。第一個是在 Vaca Muerta Sur，那麼該管道的最終投資決定是否已做出？其他石油生產商是否已經對您在該專案中[擊敗]股權合作夥伴產生了堅定的興趣？我想知道 Vaca Muerta Sur 將如何與 Oldelval 的潛在進一步複製進行比較或競爭，Oldelval 也可能在這裡討論？

The second question is about the gas receivables collection. So I was wondering if you could share with us the amount, which is currently due -- and if you were also having those offers to be paid with bonds at a haircut. And the third one, if you could comment on the free cash flow outlook for the coming quarters. You began the year maybe with a little bit heavier negative free cash flow. So the question aims to check whether those pressures could subside now in the coming quarters.

第二個問題是關於瓦斯應收款項的催收。所以我想知道您是否可以與我們分享目前到期的金額 - 以及您是否也有這些要約以折價債券支付。第三個問題，您能否對未來幾季的自由現金流前景發表評論。今年伊始，自由現金流可能會出現較大的負值。因此，這個問題旨在檢查這些壓力是否會在未來幾季消退。

Thank you, Bruno. We will start with the first question regarding Vaca Muerta South and Oldelval expansion. Here, we have Max with us, our VP of Strategy.

謝謝你，布魯諾。我們將從有關 Vaca Muerta South 和 Oldelval 擴建的第一個問題開始。這裡有我們的策略副總裁 Max。

Thanks Bruno for the question. No. So far, the Vaca Muerta Sur is progressing as expecting. All of the midstream projects actually are advancing as expected and are on track to debottlenecking our production capacity in Vaca Muerta. With this we expect Oldelval's first stage to be completed by the end of this year. This will be a key milestone actually, adding about 45,000 barrels per day of operation capacity in Vaca Muerta, reaching a total capacity of 345,000 barrels from the original of 225,000 barrels.

感謝布魯諾的提問。不會。所有中游項目實際上都在預期中推進，並有望消除我們在瓦卡穆爾塔的生產能力的瓶頸。據此，我們預計 Oldelval 的第一階段將於今年底完成。這實際上將是一個重要的里程碑，瓦卡穆爾塔的營運能力將增加約45,000桶/日，總產能從原來的225,000桶達到345,000桶。

Now for further stages, we will reach a total evacuation of 540,000 barrels. Regarding -- I think you asked Vaca Muerta Sur. What was already FIDs was what what we call (inaudible). This is already in construction and the (inaudible), which is the main trunk line all the way from (inaudible) to the port with a new port facility. What we can tell you at this stage as we already got the environmental permits for this project. This was a key milestone for this. And we are working and in discussions with the rest of the industry.

現在，在接下來的階段中，我們將總共疏散 54 萬桶石油。關於——我想你問過 Vaca Muerta Sur。已經是 FID 的就是我們所說的（聽不清楚）。這條線路已經在建設中，（聽不清楚）是從（聽不清楚）到港口的主幹線，擁有新的港口設施。我們現階段可以告訴您的是，因為我們已經獲得了該專案的環境許可證。這是一個重要的里程碑。我們正在與業內其他公司合作並進行討論。

What I cannot tell you much about this, but there's a lot of interest in participating in different levels of this project. So it's on track, and we don't see any delays on this project. And sorry, and I think you also asked your second question was about further expansions in Oldelval, right? So we believe that Vaca Muerta Sur is the most competitive evacuation for the -- to monetize the crude in Vaca Muerta. This is because in the port where we are foreseeing to have the facilities we can get to that port with VLCCs, which are -- have much more competitive transportation cost per barrel. So we believe that this will be -- this is the most efficient (inaudible) system. And that's why YPF wants to pursue this project on top of or as a priority on any other project.

關於這一點我不能告訴你太多，但大家對參與這個計畫的不同層面都有很大的興趣。所以它正在步入正軌，我們沒有看到這個項目有任何延誤。抱歉，我想您也問過第二個問題是關於奧爾德爾瓦爾的進一步擴張，對嗎？因此，我們相信 Vaca Muerta Sur 是最具競爭力的疏散地點，可以將 Vaca Muerta 的原油貨幣化。這是因為在我們預計擁有設施的港口，我們可以使用 VLCC 到達該港口，這些船舶每桶的運輸成本更具競爭力。所以我們相信這將會是最有效的（聽不清楚）系統。這就是為什麼 YPF 希望在任何其他項目之上或優先於任何其他項目來開展該項目。

Thank you, Max. I don't know if it was clear, Bruno, for you, and we can go with the second question. The second question was about the gas receivables. Max, if you can --- Fede, is answering the question, our CFO.

謝謝你，麥克斯。布魯諾，我不知道你是否清楚，我們可以繼續第二個問題。第二個問題是關於天然氣應收款項。麥克斯（Max），如果可以的話－我們的財務長費德（Fede）正在回答這個問題。

Okay. Hi Bruno. Well, as you know, this issue is somehow marginally I would say for YPF considering the magnitude of our account receivable and EBITDA. As it is publicly known in recent weeks, (inaudible) has not been able to meet its obligations with upstream companies and power generators for the months of December, January and February. Total figures for YPF is that out of a total receivable of $160 million, we had the past due of around -- it's probably 50% of that was past due. Now last Wednesday, the Secretary of Energy issued Resolution 58, which establishes an exceptional payment regime for (inaudible) past due amounts.

好的。嗨布魯諾。好吧，如您所知，考慮到我們的應收帳款和 EBITDA 的規模，我想說，對於 YPF 來說，這個問題在某種程度上是微不足道的。正如最近幾週眾所周知的那樣，（聽不清楚）未能履行 12 月、1 月和 2 月對上游公司和發電商的義務。 YPF 的總數據是，在 1.6 億美元的應收帳款總額中，我們有大約 50% 的逾期款項。上週三，能源部長發布了第 58 號決議，該決議為（聽不清楚）逾期款項建立了特殊付款制度。

This resolution provides that December and January will be canceled with the government bond due 2038. All-in-all, considering this and based on the best estimate of the company, the group has recognized a total charge of $55 million, of which $29 million were considered charge to our operating income and the balance corresponds to our subsidiaries, YPF Luz and Barragan Power Plant. So based on this, yesterday, YPF signed an agreement with (inaudible) by which on the federal due amounts were immediately canceled and the bonds shall be delivered in the coming days. In addition, this agreement provides that moving forward payments will be done in accordance with the contractual schedule.

決議規定，12月和1月將與2038年到期的政府債券一起取消。視為計入我們的營業收入，餘額對應於我們的子公司YPF Luz 和Barragan 發電廠。因此，基於此，昨天，YPF 與（聽不清楚）簽署了一項協議，根據該協議，聯邦到期金額立即被取消，債券將在未來幾天內交付。此外，該協議規定，預付款將按照合約時間表進行。

Got it. Quick follow-up. On this $29 million, was this charged in the first quarter already?

知道了。快速跟進。這2900萬美元是在第一季就已經收取的嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Okay. And you did not normalize for that when you presented your EBITDA. Is that correct?

好的。當您提交 EBITDA 時，您並沒有對此進行正常化。這是正確的嗎？

It impacted the EBITDA. It was in the line of the commercialization cost. So it is included in the EBITDA. If we wouldn't have this impact, it would have been $30 million higher. Well, we can go with the last question of Bruno. His question was about the free cash flow, the negative cash flow that we started with the year and the pressure or maybe the outlook for the coming months.

它影響了 EBITDA。它符合商業化成本。因此它包含在 EBITDA 中。如果我們沒有產生這種影響，成本將會增加 3,000 萬美元。好吧，我們可以繼續布魯諾的最後一個問題。他的問題是關於自由現金流、今年開始的負現金流以及未來幾個月的壓力或前景。

Okay. Well, the -- what would happen in the first quarter Bruno, it's a combination of, I would say, three factors. Number one, let's say, the composition of the negative free cash flow is, number one, the payment of interest of the company that amounted to probably half of that. And then the rest is composed out of two main issues. One is this delay in payments that we just mentioned on gas receivables. And the other one is that if you remember, by the end of last year, we have deferred payments of imports of goods and services that we canceled along the first quarter with or through buying securities from the government that allowed us to cancel this past-due payables.

好的。嗯，第一季會發生什麼，布魯諾，我想說，這是三個因素的結合。第一，負自由現金流的組成是，第一，公司支付的利息可能佔其中的一半。剩下的部分由兩個主要問題組成。其中之一就是我們剛才提到的天然氣應收帳款的延遲付款。另一個是，如果你還記得的話，到去年年底，我們已經推遲了第一季取消的商品和服務進口付款，或者透過從政府購買證券來取消過去的-應付應付款項。

So that was a combination during this quarter. Now moving forward, even though we expect a strong recovery in our EBITDA levels during 2024 -- this on the back of new fuel pricing strategy already implemented and our growing shale oil production, we expect the CapEx target of $5 billion for 2024, and that will push the free cash flow into the negative territory. And this will be more or less in line with the same range that happened in 2023. Nevertheless, as the expansion of EBITDA levels should be higher than the increase of our net debt, we should be ending the year with a net leverage ratio below 2023, that means something in the range of 1.7 to 1.7x.

這是本季的一個組合。現在展望未來，儘管我們預計2024 年EBITDA 水準將強勁復甦——這是在已經實施的新燃料定價策略和我們不斷增長的頁岩油產量的支持下，但我們預計2024 年的資本支出目標為50億美元，並將把自由現金流推向負值。這或多或少與 2023 年發生的範圍一致。範圍內的值。

I don't know Bruno if we answered your questions?

我不知道布魯諾我們是否回答了你的問題？

Your next question comes from the line of Daniel Guardiola of BTG.

你的下一個問題來自首旅集團的丹尼爾·瓜迪奧拉。

I have a couple of questions here. My first question is on the asset disposal plan. And I heard you mentioned that you already did a road show in Canada and Houston and Argentina. And I wanted to ask you if you could provide us the feedback you have received so far from potential buyers of these conventional fields. And also, potential pushback that maybe you have received from government entities or provinces in Argentina, where these fields are located. So that's my first question. And the second one is on Exxon exit or disposal plan, and I wanted to know if YPF is actively looking into these assets that Exxon is planning to sell in Argentina.

我在這裡有幾個問題。我的第一個問題是關於資產處置計劃。我聽說你提到你已經在加拿大、休士頓和阿根廷進行了路演。我想問您是否可以向我們提供迄今為止從這些傳統領域的潛在買家那裡收到的回饋。此外，您可能會從這些油田所在的阿根廷政府實體或省份收到潛在的阻力。這是我的第一個問題。第二個問題是關於埃克森美孚的退出或處置計劃，我想知道YPF是否正在積極研究埃克森美孚計劃在阿根廷出售的這些資產。

Thank you, Daniel. We can start with the first question.

謝謝你，丹尼爾。我們可以從第一個問題開始。

Hi Daniel. How are you? Well, regarding the asset disposal plan, we are -- we call it the Andes project. The feedback that I can tell you we got is we are already working there above 70 companies working that signed CAs and are working in the VDR. This is above our expectations on processes where I've worked in the past. I've never seen that many companies. So I think that the market was expecting and looking forward to this process. On the potential push what I can tell you is that we -- for this project, we started -- and Horacio, our CEO, started from the very beginning, working with all of the different stakeholders with the Governors, governments, different governments with the unions and with everyone else before going out to the market.

嗨丹尼爾。你好嗎？嗯，關於資產處置計劃，我們稱之為安地斯計畫。我可以告訴您，我們得到的回饋是，我們已經與超過 70 家簽署了 CA 並在 VDR 中工作的公司合作。這超出了我們對我過去工作過的流程的預期。我從來沒有見過這麼多公司。所以我認為市場對這個過程是期待和期待的。關於潛在的推動力，我可以告訴你的是，我們——對於這個項目，我們開始了——我們的首席執行官奧拉西奧從一開始就與所有不同的利益相關者合作，包括州長、政府、不同的政府在進入市場之前與工會和其他所有人一起。

So we did the homework before going out and we don't see -- so far, we haven't had any pushback on the clusters that are published in the -- or released within the Andes project. And regarding the Exxon process, there's not much I can tell you. The only thing I will tell you is one of our pillars is Vaca Muerta. We're going to focus on our most -- on our assets that have the highest margins. And we are becoming -- and we are continuously looking to any opportunity that has synergies within our operations where we want to grow. So that's what everything I can comment at this stage.

因此，我們在出去之前做了功課，我們沒有看到 - 到目前為止，我們對在 - 或在 Andes 項目中發布的集群沒有任何阻力。關於埃克森美孚的流程，我能告訴你的不多。我唯一要告訴你的是我們的支柱之一是 Vaca Muerta。我們將重點放在利潤率最高的資產。我們正在不斷尋找任何與我們希望發展的業務產生協同效應的機會。這就是我現階段能評論的一切。

Okay, great. And if I may squeeze just another one very quickly. You did mention during the call that you drilled or you're planning to drill an ultra-deepwater well offshore in the northern part of Argentina. And if I'm not mistaken, this is an extension of a major discovery that was found in Namibia two years ago by Shell and Total. I don't know if you can give us a notion of how big this new frontier could be for Argentina?

好的，太好了。如果我可以很快再擠一粒的話。您在電話中確實提到您在阿根廷北部近海鑽探或計劃鑽探一口超深水井。如果我沒記錯的話，這是殼牌和道達爾兩年前在納米比亞發現的一項重大發現的延伸。我不知道你能否告訴我們這個新領域對阿根廷來說有多大？

Sure, Daniel. Maybe you're referring to the Argerich.

當然，丹尼爾。也許你指的是阿格里奇。

Yes, that one. Exactly.

是的，就是那個。確切地。

I go for it. It's not in northern part of Argentina. It's -- the Argerich is the first ultra-deepwater exploration well in Argentina, and it's located about 300 kilometers offshore from the City of Mar Del Plata, this is Buenos Aires at the water depth of 1,500 meters. The block is called (inaudible) in the North Argentinean Basin. We started drilling this well by -- at the end of April, and we are -- we do have a 35% equity stake, the operator of the well is Equinor who is one of our partners in this joint venture. The other one is Shell with 30%. And this is an exploratory well, but what I can tell you is we are -- its targeting a very big structure.

我會努力的。它不在阿根廷北部。阿格里奇井是阿根廷第一口超深水探井，位於布宜諾斯艾利斯馬德普拉塔市近海約300公里處，水深1,500公尺。該區塊稱為（聽不清楚）位於阿根廷北部盆地。我們在 4 月底開始鑽探這口井，我們確實擁有 35% 的股權，該井的營運商是 Equinor，他是我們在這家合資企業的合作夥伴之一。另一家是殼牌，佔30%。這是一口探井，但我可以告訴你的是，我們的目標是一個非常大的結構。

The potential of this we -- I cannot tell at this stage, but of course, we are looking for something very quite material. We are looking -- you mentioned something about Namibia. What we are looking here is the same (technical difficulty) what's the translation of -- mother rock from Namibia and that's true. And we're going to be drilling this well during the next two months. And our estimation is that we could, of course, after -- if we have a discovery, then we need to do want -- to assess this, but we're targeting at the end of the road to produce maybe about 200,000 barrels per day. But this is, again, it's exploratory. So this is only in case of having a discovery and good results and the appraisal wealth.

我們現階段還無法判斷其潛力，但當然，我們正在尋找一些非常實質的東西。我們正在尋找——你提到了一些關於納米比亞的事情。我們在這裡看到的是相同的（技術難度）翻譯過來的——來自納米比亞的mother rock，這是真的。我們將在接下來的兩個月內鑽探這口井。我們的估計是，當然，如果我們有發現，那麼我們需要評估這一點，但我們的目標是最終產量約為每桶 200,000 桶。但這又是探索性的。所以這只是在有發現、良好結果和評估財富的情況下。

Your next question comes from the line of Alejandro Demichelis from Jefferies.

您的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Alejandro Demichelis。

Yes. A couple of questions please. First one is, Max, I think you talked about the pipeline, the (inaudible) pipeline. Could you give us some indication of the cost of the project from, say, (inaudible) plus the port? That's the first question. Second question is when you update us on the strategy you indicated bringing three extra rigs by the end of this year. Could you please indicate how you're progressing on that? And can we see some acceleration in your Vaca Muerta developments?

是的。請教幾個問題。第一個是，麥克斯，我想你談到了管道，（聽不清楚）管道。您能給我們一些關於該專案成本（例如，（聽不清楚）加上港口）的資訊嗎？這是第一個問題。第二個問題是，當您向我們更新您表示在今年年底前增加三台鑽機的策略時。能否說明您在這方面的進展如何？我們能否看到你們的 Vaca Muerta 開發有所加速？

Thank you, Alejandro. We can start with the first question maybe with Vaca Muerta South, the tranche, the first and second tranche costs.

謝謝你，亞歷杭德羅。我們可以從第一個問題開始，也許是 Vaca Muerta South，部分，第一部分和第二部分的成本。

(inaudible), which is already FID, it's going to cost about $250 million. the (inaudible) between the pipeline and the terminal, it's going to cost about $2.2 billion. And the second one, I'm not sure if I heard it right, but I think you asked about our acceleration in Vaca Muerta -- in our development plans in Vaca Muerta. Is that right?

（聽不清楚），這已經是 FID，耗資約 2.5 億美元。管道和終端之間的（聽不清楚）費用約為 22 億美元。第二個問題，我不確定我聽得是否正確，但我想你問了我們在瓦卡穆爾塔的加速——在我們在瓦卡穆爾塔的發展計劃中。是這樣嗎？

Yeah, and potentially bringing some new rigs to the basin to Argentina.

是的，並且有可能將一些新的鑽井平台帶到阿根廷的盆地。

Perfect. Yes. So we are currently drilling with 14 rigs, and we are planning on adding the 15th rig by June, I think -- and by June. And also, we are going to be working with 4 frac fleets in order to accelerate. So, so far, we are with the guidance that we provided last -- in the last call, we are on track, and we are going to plan on -- and we are -- sorry, and with this is -- yeah, I don't know if I addressed the question.

完美的。是的。因此，我們目前正在使用 14 台鑽機進行鑽探，我認為我們計劃在 6 月之前添加第 15 台鑽機，到 6 月。此外，我們將與 4 個壓裂船隊合作以加快速度。所以，到目前為止，我們遵循我們上次提供的指導——在上次電話會議中，我們正在步入正軌，我們將計劃——我們——抱歉，這是——是的，我不知道我是否回答了這個問題。

Okay. So just to be clear, of the three rigs that you mentioned that you were adding this year, you already have two working and you have one extra coming in June.

好的。因此，需要明確的是，在您提到的今年要添加的三台鑽機中，您已經有兩台正在運行，另外一台將在 6 月推出。

That's correct, yes.

這是正確的，是的。

Okay, great. And sorry, are you seeing a potential to bring more rigs than that?

好的，太好了。抱歉，您是否認為有可能引進更多的鑽孔機？

Yes. But yes. But at this stage, we cannot -- because we may -- we get to -- we may get to a bottleneck by the end of this year. So we are carefully accelerating. Once Oldelval system is the -- yeah, once not fully debottleneck, but once the first stage of this -- adding the capacity by the end of the year is COD-ed, then we will be able to accelerate and further grow next year.

是的。但是是的。但在現階段，我們不能——因為我們可能——我們可能會——到今年年底我們可能會遇到瓶頸。所以我們正在小心地加速。一旦 Oldelval 系統——是的，一旦沒有完全消除瓶頸，但一旦第一階段——在今年年底前增加容量是 COD 的，那麼我們明年將能夠加速並進一步成長。

Your next question comes from the line of Bruno Amorim of Goldman Sachs.

你的下一個問題來自高盛的布魯諾·阿莫林。

And congratulations on the results. Just wanted to follow up. I think you have made it very clear what's the plan for this year and next. Just wanted to ask your thoughts on when shareholders should expect to receive dividends. I understand you're going through a turnaround process you're investing for the future. But I just wanted to hear from you when you think the company will start paying meaningful dividends to shareholders as a result of all the measures that you are implementing?

祝賀結果。只是想跟進。我想你已經很清楚今年和明年的計畫了。只是想問一下您對股東何時應該收到股息的想法。我了解您正在經歷一個週轉過程，您正在為未來進行投資。但我只是想聽聽您的意見，您認為公司將由於您正在實施的所有措施而開始向股東支付有意義的股息？

I'll take it, Max. Hi Bruno, thank you for your words. Well, in terms of dividend strategy for this year and for next year, considering and given the strong growth in prospects of our shale oil development, particularly for the upcoming years. Dividend payments shouldn't be or are not a top priority for this immediate to next year. However, we do believe that we have to normalize, and we are conscious that we need to normalize dividend payments down the road, considering that the company has not distributed dividends to shareholders for more than five years. So we are quite conscious of this. And so even though it is too early to comment, we may consider and we are considering and we will -- it's one of our drivers to reassume dividends as soon as possible.

我會接受的，麥克斯。嗨布魯諾，謝謝你的發言。那麼，就今年和明年的股息策略而言，考慮並考慮到我們頁岩油開發前景的強勁增長，特別是未來幾年。股息支付不應該也不是明年的首要任務。然而，我們確實認為我們必須正常化，考慮到公司已經超過五年沒有向股東分配股息，我們意識到我們需要在未來實現股息支付正常化。所以我們對此非常有意識。因此，儘管現在發表評論還為時過早，但我們可能會考慮，我們正在考慮，我們將會——這是我們盡快重新分配股息的驅動因素之一。

So this year, I would say that we know that it's going to be negative free cash flow. We are expecting next year to be -- to target for a much more neutral year in terms of cash flow. And definitely, 2026 should be a year in which will be our top priorities to reassume this dividend leaving this dividend situation. So we have in our agenda, normalizing this situation, as I explained. Right now, we understand that the way to maximize the value to our shareholders is to improve as much as possible and to reduce as much as possible the monetization of the Vaca Muerta reserves. And in order to do that we need to heavy invest along this year. But we have this in our agenda. It will be one of our priorities.

所以今年，我想說我們知道自由現金流將是負數。我們預計明年的現金流目標將更加中性。毫無疑問，2026 年應該是我們的首要任務，以擺脫這種股息狀況，重新承擔股息。因此，正如我所解釋的那樣，我們的議程中包括使這種情況正常化。目前，我們明白，為股東創造最大價值的方法是盡可能提高並減少 Vaca Muerta 儲備金的貨幣化。為了做到這一點，我們今年需要大量投資。但我們已將此列入議程。這將是我們的優先事項之一。

Your next question comes from the line of Marina Mertens of Latin Securities.

您的下一個問題來自拉丁證券公司的瑪麗娜·默滕斯 (Marina Mertens)。

I have two questions. The first one regarding the pricing dynamics of the pump. So considering that the government has delayed the adjustment to the tax on liquid fuels, do you consider there could be any potential constraints to implement further price increases at the pump? And the second one, given the progress in the project Andes to divest these mature fields. Could we expect YPF to proceed with any other sale of noncore assets?

我有兩個問題。第一個關於泵浦的定價動態。那麼考慮到政府推遲了液體燃料稅的調整，您認為進一步實施加油站價格是否有潛在的限制？第二個是考慮到安第斯山脈計畫剝離這些成熟油田的進展。我們能否期望 YPF 繼續出售其他非核心資產？

Thank you, Marina. We can start with the first question.

謝謝你，瑪麗娜。我們可以從第一個問題開始。

So regarding the prices, since the end of last year, we have been developing an active fuel price recovery strategy that resulted in prices increasing at the pump are almost about -- yeah, almost about 200% in Argentine pesos. That allowed us to translate the discrete devaluation that took place in mid-December of last year and to increase prices in dollar terms, reducing the discount to international parties to -- down to 7%. Although local macro variables and the normalization of international spreads could reduce future results due to that, we are addressing a demanding cost reduction and margin improvement plan in our downstream business in order to sustain business margins.

因此，就價格而言，自去年年底以來，我們一直在製定積極的燃油價格復甦策略，導致加油站價格幾乎上漲了 200%（以阿根廷比索計算）。這使我們能夠轉化去年 12 月中旬的離散貶值，並提高以美元計算的價格，將國際各方的折扣降至 7%。儘管當地宏觀變數和國際利差正常化可能會因此影響未來業績，但我們正在下游業務中實施嚴格的成本削減和利潤改善計劃，以維持業務利潤。

That's where we are focusing. Besides, it's hard to predict, mostly due to the volatility in international prices, the company still needs to preserve the prices both to compensate for the evolution of our Argentine pesos and to adjust to local prices to import parity levels. Regarding the process Andes, I think that this is -- we are -- the answer -- the short answer is yes, but we have -- but not now. I mean we are focusing on the project Andes at this stage.

這就是我們關注的焦點。此外，很難預測，主要是由於國際價格的波動，該公司仍然需要維持價格，以補償阿根廷比索的演變，並根據當地價格調整進口平價水準。關於安第斯山脈的進程，我認為這是——我們是——答案——簡短的答案是肯定的，但我們已經——但不是現在。我的意思是我們現階段重點關注安第斯山脈計畫。

Your next question comes from the line of Leonardo Marcondes of Bank of America.

你的下一個問題來自美國銀行的李奧納多·馬孔德斯。

My first question is regarding the natural gas segment. Is the rise in natural gas prices from Metrogas for residential use already embedded into your estimates for the year? And what could we expect from this increase in terms of results for the next quarter? My second question is regarding the stock variation we saw during this quarter.

我的第一個問題是關於天然氣領域的。 Metrogas 住宅用天然氣價格的上漲是否已納入您今年的預測中？我們對下一季業績的成長有何預期？我的第二個問題是關於我們在本季看到的庫存變化。

I was wondering if you could provide a bit more color on the dynamics that led to this impact of around $125 million this first quarter. And maybe if I can do a third one here? It seems that the drilling and the frac efficiency has significantly improved this year already, right? So I was wondering if you could provide a bit more color on your target for this trillion frac speed metrics? And what has been done to improving so fast?

我想知道您是否可以提供更多有關導致第一季約 1.25 億美元影響的動態的資訊。也許我可以在這裡做第三次？看來今年的鑽井和壓裂效率已經顯著提高了，對吧？所以我想知道您是否可以為這萬億壓裂速度指標的目標提供更多顏色？到底做了什麼才能進步這麼快？

Thank you, Leo. We can start with the first question regarding the tariff adjustment of Metrogas and the view on the outlook of the year. Just give us one second.

謝謝你，利奧。我們可以從第一個問題開始，關於Metrogas的關稅調整以及對今年前景的看法。請給我們一秒鐘。

Yes. So the tariff adjustment is -- what I can comment is that it was transitory and allowed us to Metrogas to pay for all of its operating costs and any financial interest that they had to pay for. That's all on the -- and the second question, sorry, I.

是的。因此，關稅調整是——我可以評論的是，它是暫時的，允許我們 Metrogas 支付其所有營運成本以及他們必須支付的任何財務利息。這就是第二個問題，對不起，我。

Yes. And the second question was about the stock variation in the quarter. Maybe, Leo, you can detail a little bit more about that because you know the stock variation, we cannot have a fundamental analysis about it. It depends on the macro condition in Argentina. So maybe we cannot share a deep opinion from our management regarding that.

是的。第二個問題是關於本季庫存變化的。也許，Leo，你可以詳細說明一下，因為你知道股票的變化，我們無法對其進行基本面分析。這取決於阿根廷的宏觀狀況。因此，也許我們無法分享管理層對此的深刻意見。

Sure. Maybe we can discuss this impact as critical, but maybe just to highlight here, I wanted to understand maybe the dynamics that led to this impact of around $125 million in this quarter from this effect. What has led to -- what has impacted this line because it was somewhat strong rate, so.

當然。也許我們可以將這種影響視為至關重要的，但也許只是為了在這裡強調，我想了解可能導致本季約 1.25 億美元影響的動態。是什麼導致了——是什麼影響了這條線，因為它的匯率有些強勁，所以。

Well, that is a general reaction in the market. The new management study is just by the last -- by the end of December last year, and there have been many good news in the company regarding the pricing in the downstream business, the Andes project, there have been many news about it.

嗯，這是市場的普遍反應。新的管理研究剛好到最後——去年12月底，公司內部就傳出了許多關於下游業務Andes專案定價的好消息，有很多消息。

It's just to understand, Leo -- are you referring to the reduction in the operating cost along this quarter? Is that because -- we didn't understand well probably your question.

Leo，您是指本季營運成本的下降嗎？這是因為——我們可能不太理解你的問題。

Well, under the total other costs here, we saw a very strong stock variation. But maybe we can discuss this because it's more accounting discussion than a strategic one, right? So maybe we can leave to discuss this afterwards.

好吧，在其他總成本下，我們看到庫存變化非常大。但也許我們可以討論這個問題，因為這更多的是會計討論而不是戰略討論，對嗎？所以也許我們可以稍後再討論這個問題。

Yes. Leo, maybe I got your question. This is a stock variation inventory, right? Because I understood. Yeah, yeah, okay. You know there have been (inaudible) evaluation so that is why this is an exceptional evolution in the stock variation. Also, you have to consider that in terms of OpEx, since the new management started there have been some cost efficiency already achieved. In the Upstream business, there have been some tariff reduction in the transportation also in the Downstream business. So in that sense, I think if we have to analyze specifically the inventory, I have to tell you that the main variation reason was the exceptional devaluation.

是的。利奧，也許我聽到你的問題了。這是庫存變化庫存，對嗎？因為我明白了。是啊是啊，好吧。您知道已經進行了（聽不清楚）評估，因此這就是庫存變化的特殊演變的原因。此外，您還必須考慮到營運支出，自從新管理層上任以來，已經實現了一些成本效率。在上游業務中，下游業務的運輸關稅也有所降低。所以從這個意義上說，我認為如果我們必須具體分析庫存，我必須告訴你，主要的變化原因是異常貶值。

Very clear, very good. Apologies for the confusion here. (technical difficulty)

非常清楚，非常好。對於這裡的混亂表示歉意。 （技術難度）

Yes. So your last question was about drilling and fracking efficiency improved and compared to the targets that we announced in March, right?

是的。所以你的最後一個問題是關於鑽井和水力壓裂效率的提高以及與我們三月宣布的目標相比，對吧？

Well, regarding that, during the first quarter, we've improved our drilling speed materially from -- we got to 290 meters per day. That's 9% above the last quarter. So that sequentially. And regarding the frac speed, we also improved about 11% to 219 stages per sector month. So due to that, that's where we are putting most of our efforts in the unconventional business in order to accelerate, but we're very focused on efficiency.

嗯，關於這一點，在第一季度，我們大幅提高了鑽井速度，從每天 290 公尺。這比上一季增長了 9%。如此依序進行。至於壓裂速度，我們也提高了約 11%，達到每個扇區每月 219 個階段。因此，我們將大部分精力投入到非常規業務中以加速發展，但我們非常注重效率。

We can go with the last question since we are running out of time, maybe.

也許我們已經沒有時間了，所以我們可以繼續最後一個問題。

Your last question comes from the line of Ezequiel Fernandez of Balanz.

你的最後一個問題來自 Balanz 的 Ezequiel Fernandez。

Good morning, everybody. This is Ezequiel Fernandez from Balanz. Thank you very much for the materials that the IR team provided -- very complete to get the quarterly picture. I have four questions, but they should be quick. Sorry if it's a little bit lengthy on the final one. So we already discussed a little bit the noncore sales, potential sales. I was wondering if you have any specific plans for YPF Luz Profertil and YPF Lithium. And I would like to go one by one of the questions, if you don't mind.

大家早安。我是來自 Balanz 的 Ezequiel Fernandez。非常感謝 IR 團隊提供的資料——非常完整，足以了解季度情況。我有四個問題，但應該很快。抱歉，如果最後一篇有點長。我們已經討論了一些非核心銷售、潛在銷售。我想知道您對 YPF Luz Profertil 和 YPF Lithium 是否有任何具體計劃。如果您不介意的話，我想一一解答這些問題。

On these assets, at this stage, no, we don't have any plans.

對於這些資產，現階段我們沒有任何計劃。

Okay, great. My second question is related to some of the midstream upgrades in place. I understand that there are no ports in Argentina at the moment that can receive VLCCs. I was wondering if there is any work being done on any of the existing ports or if it's something that you will leave for the Vaca Muerta fuel pipeline.

好的，太好了。我的第二個問題與一些中游升級有關。據我了解，目前阿根廷沒有港口可以接收VLCC。我想知道是否有任何現有港口正在進行任何工作，或者您是否會將其留給瓦卡穆爾塔燃料管道。

Yes, we can start with that question. Keep in mind that Punta Colorada is a port that used to be used by the mining industry. And in our case, we are building an offshore facility, not exactly using the Port.

是的，我們可以從這個問題開始。請記住，蓬塔科羅拉達是一個曾經被採礦業使用的港口。就我們而言，我們正在建造一個離岸設施，而不是完全使用港口。

Yes, that's the case. So this will work only for the new infrastructure system, which I commented, which is Vaca Muerta Sur. And in Punta Colorada offshore of it, this is -- VLCCs will be able to get to that port.

是的，就是這樣。因此，這僅適用於我評論過的新基礎設施系統，即 Vaca Muerta Sur。在蓬塔科羅拉達近海，超大型油輪將能夠到達該港口。

Okay. That's great news. And I have two more questions on the downstream side. The first one here is -- there seems to be intentions by the government to fully liberalize prices and for eventually internal prices, crude prices in Argentina to match Brent with the applicable discounts, of course and then for anybody to be able to import fuels. If that situation materializes, I think that puts the general downstream sector in Argentina, a little bit, I wouldn't say in a bind, but it's going to be hard to compete with reported fuels. How do you see that? Do you agree with that view or (inaudible) should be fine in that scenario?

好的。這是個好消息。我還有兩個關於下游的問題。第一個是——政府似乎有意完全放開價格，並最終實現內部價格，阿根廷的原油價格將與布蘭特原油價格相匹配，當然還有適用的折扣，然後任何人都能夠進口燃料。如果這種情況成為現實，我認為這會讓阿根廷的整個下游產業，我不會說有點陷入困境，但它將很難與報導的燃料競爭。你怎麼看？您是否同意這種觀點，或者（聽不清楚）在這種情況下應該沒問題？

Well, in order to answer these specific and detailed questions, I will use the opportunity that we have together with us here Mauricio Martin. He is the Vice President of Downstream and commercialization. So he will be giving a much more detailed answer to you. So I'll pass the microphone to him.

那麼，為了回答這些具體而詳細的問題，我將利用我們在這裡與毛里西奧·馬丁一起的機會。他是下游和商業化副總裁。所以他會給你一個更詳細的答案。所以我會把麥克風遞給他。

Good morning, everyone. According to your question, we are increasing our local prices according to our philosophy of converging to the import parity levels. Together with that, we are also increasing the local price -- crude oil prices, just matching both streams in order keep our market supply with local fuels.

大家早安。根據你的問題，我們正在根據與進口平價水平接軌的理念來提高本地價格。同時，我們也提高了當地價格——原油價格，與這兩種原油價格相匹配，以保持當地燃料的市場供應。

In that sense, of course, for the future, in the future, we are going to reduce our international prices. And that's because we are deploying in downstream sector and a strong optimization plan in order to increase our productivity. And because of that, we are going -- we intend and we are making huge efforts in order to keep our margins green. And in that way, I assume that during this current year, we are going to save $2, $3 per barrel in order to keep that margin in value.

當然，從這個意義上說，對於未來，未來，我們將降低我們的國際價格。這是因為我們正在下游部門部署和強大的最佳化計劃，以提高我們的生產力。正因為如此，我們打算並且正在做出巨大努力，以保持我們的利潤率。這樣，我認為今年我們將每桶節省 2、3 美元，以保持利潤的價值。

Okay. So you think those $2, $3 per barrel (inaudible) would keep local refiners or at least the competitive the YPF refinanced (inaudible). Okay. Perfect. My final question on the downstream side is this discussion is a little bit muted in Argentina, but outside, it happens everywhere, which is the impact of electric vehicles in local fuel demand. I don't know if you have any preliminary estimates about when will this start to be a relevant factor for YPF.

好的。因此，您認為每桶 2、3 美元（聽不清楚）將使當地煉油廠保持競爭力，或至少讓 YPF 再融資（聽不清楚）保持競爭力。好的。完美的。我對下游的最後一個問題是，這種討論在阿根廷有點低調，但在國外，這種情況隨處可見，這就是電動車對當地燃料需求的影響。我不知道您是否對這何時開始成為YPF的相關因素有任何初步估計。

Thank you for your question. It's quite interesting. We are constantly viewing what the electric cars are making (technical difficulty). We have the time machine I said, because we are looking at what is happening in Europe, what is happening in U.S. and of course, in Latin America. So for our current business plan, that the electricity -- the electric vehicle is not an easy for us. Nevertheless, we are deploying some electric chargers through our station just as a pilot and just for to foresee what is the impact of these new mobility model. But for us, it's not an issue. Nevertheless, we are constantly surveying what is happening around the world.

謝謝你的提問。這很有趣。我們不斷關注電動車正在製造什麼（技術難度）。我們有我所說的時間機器，因為我們正在關注歐洲正在發生的事情，美國正在發生的事情，當然還有拉丁美洲正在發生的事情。所以對於我們目前的商業計畫來說，電力——電動車對我們來說並不是一件容易的事。儘管如此，我們正在透過我們的充電站部署一些充電器，作為試點，只是為了預見這些新的移動模式的影響。但對我們來說，這不是問題。儘管如此，我們仍在不斷調查世界各地正在發生的事情。

That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Margarita Chun and Federico Barroetavena. Please go ahead for the closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。現在我將把會議轉回給 Margarita Chun 和 Federico Barroetavena。請繼續進行結束語。

Well, thank you, everyone, for participating in this call. We appreciate the questions and we talk next time, next quarter. Thank you very much.

好的，謝謝大家參加這次電話會議。我們感謝您提出的問題，我們下次、下季再討論。非常感謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。