Argentine state-controlled energy company YPF has discovered a conventional oil field in the southern province of Rio Negro with reserves of around 40 million barrels of oil.
The "Manzano Grande x-1" well was drilled to a depth of around 3,000 meters (9,850 feet) and is the company's second discovery in the Los Caldenes block, YPF said in a statement.
YPF has had the concession for the area since 2001, recently renewed to 2036.
Argentina nationalized YPF in 2012 after accusing its former parent, Spain's Repsol SA, of under-investing and thereby generating a costly energy deficit for Latin America's No. 3 economy.
The country hopes that by increasing investment in the vast Vaca Muerta formation, also in southern Patagonia, it will be able to reduce energy imports, which are draining its low foreign reserves.
