Record Vaca Muerta Output Fails to Lift Argentina’s Wider Economy
Exxon and Chevron’s $26.5 Billion Quarter Draws Trump’s Ire What I Cover Tsvetana Paraskova is an energy and commodities journalist who has contributed to Oilprice.com for nearly a decade, covering global energy markets, commodities,… Argentina’s Vaca Muerta is booming as the key shale province outside the United States has seen record oil and near-record natural gas production in recent months.
Vaca Muerta’s fortunes, however, appear to be confined so far to the area in which the shale patch is located, the province of Neuquén in the western region of Patagonia.
The rest of Argentina continues to struggle with sluggish growth, high inflation, weak consumer spending, and business and mortgage defaults, all the while South America’s second-largest economy continues to pay off its large external debts and loans it had taken on through the years.
Vaca Muerta’s success has boosted Argentina’s energy industry, which has joined agriculture as a key driver of GDP growth.
But outside the shale patch, total public consumption and investments have declined year to date, and consumer spending has dropped, too.
Argentina’s President Javier Milei and his government expect the rest of the country to catch up with the Vaca Muerta boom, but little progress has been made so far.
Job creation and growth remain a tale of two Argentinas.Related: US Oil Drillers Turn Cautious as WTI Holds Near $85 per Barrel What was a predominantly U.S.
business until a few years ago, shale exploration and production is now gaining momentum outside North America.
And Argentina’s Vaca Muerta is top of the list of oil and gas companies, including U.S.
shale giants, as a de-risked basin with proven geology that’s far away from having to rely on the Strait of Hormuz or any other corridor in the Middle East to ship barrels out.
After a slow start earlier this decade, Vaca Muerta is now booming.
The latest production figures showed that crude oil output hit anall-time highof 887,227 barrels per day (bpd) in May, up by 19% from a year earlier.
| 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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