Argentina's Shale Boom Is Reshaping Energy Security Across the Americas
Angola Confirms New Offshore Oil and Gas Reserves With Katambi-2 Well As Oilprice’s South America correspondent, I cover Colombia (where I currently live), Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Guyana, Suriname and Uruguay.
I… Argentina's recentrecord unconventional oil and natural gas outputfrom the Vaca Muerta shale is boosting energy security in the Americas.
In a decade, shale oil and gas production has grown at a stunning clip to now comprise over 70% of Argentina’s hydrocarbon output.
This rapid growth will continue with the Vaca Muerta, which is still in the early stages of development, poised to become aleading shale oil and gas playthat will bolster energy security in the Americas.
For June 2026,government data showsArgentina’s oil production of 868,763 barrels per day was 2% lower month over month, but still a notable 12.6% greater than a year earlier.
Natural gas output for the same period was 5.4 billion cubic feet per day.
This was 1.2% lower than May 2026 and 3% less than the billion cubic feet reported for June 2025.
While those numbers indicate oil and gas production declined for the month, hydrocarbon output was still significantly higher than a decade earlier.
Two years after the development of the Vaca Muerta began in earnest, in June 2016, Argentina lifted 500,580 barrels of crude oil and 4.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.
The significant growth in hydrocarbon production over the last decade, with crude oil output up by 74% and natural gas rising 23%, is because of the development of the Vaca Muerta shale formation.
Indeed, by June 2026, shale oil comprised 71%, or 616,490 barrels per day, of Argentina’s total petroleum output.
Shale gas for the same period made up 70%, or 3.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas output.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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