Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Bhavesh, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the YPF 3Q '23 Earnings Webcast Presentation. At this time, all lines have been placed on me to prevent any background noise. I will now hand the call over to Margarita Chun, Head of Investor Relations Manager. You may begin your conference.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to YPF third quarter 2023 earnings call. My name is Margarita Chun, and I am the new Investor Relations Manager of YPF. Let me start by saying that it's my pleasure to join YPF, the largest and leading energy company in Argentina. This presentation will be conducted by our CEO, Mr. Pablo Iuliano; and our CFO, Mr. Alejandro Lew. During the presentation, we will go through the main aspects and events that explain the quarter results. Due to agenda issues, our senior management has to pre-record this presentation and will not be available for the usual Q&A session. However, the IR team will be open for any further questions. Before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to our cautionary statement on Slide 2. Please take into consideration that our remarks today and answers to your questions may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from the expectations contemplated by these remarks. Our financial figures are stated according to IFRS, but during the call, we might discuss some non-IFRS measures such as adjusted EBITDA. I will now turn the call to Pablo. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Margarita and good morning to you all. Let me start highlighting that this was another quarter in which we continue delivering a solid operational performance. Total hydrocarbon production reached 520,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, rising 1% sequentially and 3% on a year-over-year basis, mainly driven by a sound performance in our shale operations, which recorded an internal expansion of 16%. Focusing on crude oil production, we've recorded a slight sequential decline of 2%, mainly in our shale operations, bouncing back since September on-track to meet the production target for the full year. Adjusted EBITDA reached $926 million in the quarter, decreasing 8% sequentially and 38% comparing to the Q3 of 2022. The lower outcome compared to the previous quarter came especially on the back of lower domestic fuel prices in dollar terms, mainly triggered by the distressed devaluation in [ pesos ], not fully passed through in the retail segment and a downward trend in the prices of other refinery products other than gasoline and diesel, partially offset by higher seasonal natural gas sales. And our bottom line came in at a loss of $137 million in the Q3, particularly affected by an impairment charge in our natural gas assets of $506 million pretax, primarily on the back of lower long-term expected prices as a result of increased competition and potential oversupply in the domestic natural gas market in coming years. This revised outlook for the local natural gas market, [indiscernible] our strategic view of prioritizing oil versus gas in terms of profitable opportunities in the short term and medium terms, leading to lower expected natural gas production volumes in Cambiemos compared to our previous forecast. In terms of our investment activities, we continue deploying our aggressive CapEx plan during the quarter, which increased 13% sequentially…

Thank you, Pablo. During the quarter, our total hydrocarbon production grew modestly compared to the previous quarter but still resulted in an increase of 3% on a year-over-year basis. Crude oil production recorded a slight sequential decline of 2%, mainly due to interference effects of new well construction activity over existing production in our shale core hub fields, together with some delays on our program for new tie-ins. But later in October, we have recovered our healthy growth trend, surpassing the 100,000 barrels per day average for the first time in our shale oil production being on track to meet the total oil production target of the year. Beyond crude, natural gas production increased 3% sequentially to 38 million cubic meters per day, primarily driven by demand seasonality, while NGLs production increased by 9% quarter-over-quarter. The positive inter-annual evolution in hydrocarbon production came as expected on the back of our total shale production, which continued delivering solid results, expanding by 16% year-on-year, mainly led by our shale oil production. On the conventional side, crude oil production was 1% below the previous quarter, mainly driven by the natural decline of our mature fields, mostly compensated by our tertiary production, which increased 9% sequentially and 30% versus the same period of 2022. The positive evolution in tertiary production came primarily from Manantiales Behr block, our flagship project that represents almost 70% of our EOR production, together with the solid results of the pilots deployed at Chachauen in Mendoza and El Trebol in Chubu. Moving to costs. Lifting averaged $15.6 per barrel of oil equivalent across our upstream operations, 2% below the previous quarter, primarily driven by the evolution of macroeconomic variables, while lifting costs for our shale oil core hub operations remain almost stable sequentially at a very competitive level of $4.2…

With this, we conclude our presentation for today. And for any further questions, please contact the IR team. Have a good day.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

Thank you.