Argentina's YPF signs deal with GE to build power generation plant

Argentinean oil company YPF and General Electric (GE) signed a deal on Tuesday to build a power generation plant in the northern province of Tucuman, at an estimated investment cost of 170 million U.S. dollars.

Once complete in 2018, the plant will have a capacity of 260MW, which will be added to the national grid, according to a YPF press release.

The new plant, said the release, will count on advanced levels of efficiency, allowing it to reduce operating costs while producing enough energy to meet the needs of over 280,000 families. The plant would also provide over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in the coming years.

The deal was concluded in a meeting in Buenos Aires between John Rice, GE's vice chairman, Alejandro Bottan, GE's president for the South Cone, Alvaro Anzola, general manager of GE Power Systems, and Miguel Gutierrez, president of YPF.

"By joining forces with YPF on multiple projects, we are leading the needed scalability for the country to reactivate its growth and development," said Rice at a ceremony after the signing.

"YPF and its people have the capacity to bring innovative solutions which contribute to the success of energetic self-reliance. This alliance with GE is proof of what we can do," explained Gutierrez.

"We are moving toward being an integral energy company, by adding other projects to our oil and gas portfolio to bring energy to the Argentinean people," he added.

"GE has been present in Argentina for over 96 years, we are committed to the country's development. We are providing trustworthy energy sources in the short-term and capitalizing on opportunities to localize energy product, for thermal as well as renewable," added Rice.

YPF is Argentina's main energy company, accounting for 43 percent of the country's oil and gas production. Endit