Qatar Petroleum buys stake in Exxon's Argentina shale assets

Doha: Qatar Petroleum (QP) signed an agreement on Sunday with Exxon Mobil to acquire a 30 per cent stake in two of Exxon's affiliates in Argentina giving QP access to oil and gas shale assets in the Latin American country.
The deal would give QP, the world's biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG), a 30 per cent share in two of Exxon's local affiliates in Argentina — ExxonMobil Exploration Argentina and Mobil Argentina, which holds rights with other partners for seven blocks, QP said in a statement.
The blocks are under "unconventional exploration licenses with active drilling plans as well as exploitation licenses with pilot drilling and production," QP said.
The deal between QP and Exxon comes as the world's largest publicly traded oil producer looks to rapidly expand its upstream operations under Chief Executive Darren Woods, who inherited a portfolio with relatively few international growth operations compared to peers.
For QP, the deal offers a chance to invest for the first time in a sizeable shale operation while avoiding the public relations difficulties that would have likely arisen had it invested in shale operations in the United States.