Petronas sees YPF, Petronas nods as regional boosters

Malaysian oil company Petronas said it signed agreements with its Mexican and Argentine partners to expand its footprint in the Americas.

Petronas, Mexican oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, known also as Pemex, and Argentine oil company YPF signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding on exploration and production.

Petronas President Tan Sri Dato' Shamsul Azhar Abbas said the Latin American companies were the right partners to have for regional growth.

"These memoranda will hopefully provide a strategic platform for growth to complement and provide optionality to our North American resource base," he said in a Saturday statement.

Petronas and Pemex agreed separately to exchange information for activities related to deepwater explorations, extraction of heavier crude oils and the potential for the development of natural gas infrastructure.

Pemex wants a role in developing the vast oil deposits in the Vaca Muerta shale oil region of Argentina and sent experts there last year to review the prospects.

Pemex itself is working under a state privatization agenda that envisions production of 3.5 million barrels of oil per day by 2025, which would be a 40 percent increase from 2013 levels.