Archer has won a two-year drilling contract, plus a one-year option, from Vista in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale play. The deal is worth an estimated $35 million to $40 million over the full term, including the option year, and adds Vista to Archer’s customer base in Argentina. Archer will deploy its AC drilling rig DLS-156 […]
YPF, Eni and XRG have submitted their $51 billion Argentina LNG project for approval under Argentina’s Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), advancing plans to develop Vaca Muerta natural gas for large-scale LNG exports.
Citigroup, Banco Santander SA and JP Morgan are among lenders working on a roughly $1 billion finance package for a project by Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale formation, according to people familiar with the matter.
GeoPark has completed its previously announced acquisition from Pluspetrol S.A. of a 100% operated working interest in the Loma Jarillosa Este and Puesto Silva Oeste blocks, located in the black oil window of Argentina’s Vaca Muerta formation in the Neuquén basin.
Colombia-based independent GeoPark has acquired the 100% operated working interest held by Pluspetrol in two blocks in the Vaca Muerta shale formation in Argentina for USD 115 million, GeoPark announced on Thursday.
The first Global Research report zeroes in on Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale, highlighting its world-class productivity yet revealing that M&A buyers are acquiring assets at valuations well below those seen in U.S. shale basins. According to Enverus, deals imply buyers are paying about $1 million per undeveloped well location, compared with approximately $4 million for U.S. shale locations of similar quality.
Chevron plans to increase its oil production in Argentina’s shale play Vaca Muerta to about 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the year, from around 25,000 bpd now, Ana Moneto, the U.S. supermajor’s Argentina country manager, said.
Rystad chief analyst Per Magnus Nysveen said, “Full extraction of these oil resources will require oil prices stabilizing at higher levels and further estimate increases will require new technologies to lower production costs. Over the next decades, the capital needed will likely not be available to meet continuously increasing oil demand, service prices could skyrocket, and there will likely be limited appetite for innovations to sustain such high emissions from oil”.
Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale play posted significant first-quarter gains in 2025, building on last year’s strong performance, with oil output surging 26% and gas production rising 16% year-on-year, according to Rystad Energy estimates. This growth is shifting Argentina away from its historical dependence on gas imports, pushing the nation closer to energy self-sufficiency.
Argentina’s controversial president Javier Milei, a self-described anarcho-capitalist, on taking office enacted strict austerity measures to rein in rampant triple-digit inflation, kick-start the economy and slash a massive fiscal deficit.