BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s cash-strapped state energy company signed a partnership deal Wednesday with Chevron Corp. for a “massive development” of the South American country’s vast nonconventional oil and gas resources.

YPF President Miguel Galuccio and Chevron’s Latin America and Africa chief, Ali Moshiri, signed a letter of intent to start on a shale pilot project by drilling more than 100 wells within 12 months in the Vaca Muerta area of Patagonia. YPF hopes the effort will help it boost production to meet Argentina’s growing energy demands.