January 2012, YPF SA (YPF, YPFD.BA), Argentina's biggest oil and gas company, said it had confirmed 927 million barrels of unconventional oil in Neuquen province. That came on the heels of last December's announcement that YPF had found an estimated 4.5 trillion cubic feet of unconventional gas at its Loma La Lata field.
YPF's majority shareholder is Spain's Repsol YPF SA (REPYY, REP.MC), which has a 57.4% stake in the company. Argentina's Grupo Petersen holds a 25.4% stake while the company's free-floating shares total about 17%.
The finds could position Argentina among the world's leading producers of shale oil, or unconventional oil extracted from tight sands or shale rock formations and create a large-scale boom in investment and production such as now being witnessed in North American shale plays such as Eagle Ford and Bakken,.
