Drilling in the Vaca Muerta shale
Protests compound Argentina’s gas woes
Efforts to raise Vaca Muerta production face financial and strike action hurdles
Argentina’s gas producers were already struggling to meet targets pledged in the country’s new incentive scheme—dubbed Plan Gas.Ar—with capex scaled back and limited drilling activity last year. But protests in the Vaca Muerta shale basin by Argentina’s main oil and gas union are set to further slow production growth. Upstream workers are demanding better pay as a result of Argentina’s rampant inflation, while the government is struggling to meet its debts. The IMF loaned the country a record $57bn in 2018 to help balance the books, and President Alberto Fernandez has since been scrambling to renegotiate payments. And activity in the Vaca Muerta region has already been delayed, wi
Also in this section
18 November 2024
The company is on track to boost import terminal capacity by 40% in three years, CEO Akshay Kumar Singh tells Petroleum Economist
15 November 2024
With Chevron and AIM-listed Challenger Energy having completed their Uruguayan farm-out deal, Challenger CEO Eytan Uliel updates Petroleum Economist on the firm's progress in the frontier basin
14 November 2024
The country is seeking to secure its position as a major global refiner and meet rising domestic requirements
13 November 2024
IOCs are focused on the next wave of exploration activity in Namibia and are keen to learn from one another’s results
