May Numbers
Vista Energy lifted output to a record 156,670 boe/d in May, its first full month with the former Equinor assets consolidated. Production rose 12.5% from April and 40.6% year-on-year, according to well-level production records from Argentina's Secretariat of Energy for the month.
Crude, the heaviest weighting in the business, reached 139,469 barrels per day (bbl/d), up 11.6% on the month and 39.5% from May 2025. It was the first full month in which Vista Energy, an independent Vaca Muerta-focused producer, consolidated the blocks it acquired from Equinor, the Norwegian energy major.
The $712 million transaction added a 25.1% stake in Bandurria Sur and 35% of Bajo del Toro, with accounting integration from May 1. The incorporation carried the company to 156,670 boe/d from the 134,741 boe/d it had averaged in the first quarter.
Contribution by block
The monthly data breaks out each block's contribution by operator. The areas Vista operates directly, led by Bajada del Palo Oeste and Bajada del Palo Este, delivered 82,192 boe/d, up 2.8% from April and 23.8% year-on-year, supported by the tie-in of four new operated wells.
La Amarga Chica, where Vista holds a 50% interest and YPF, Argentina's state-controlled oil and gas company, is operator, added 39,269 boe/d. The former Equinor assets contributed 18,008 boe/d in their first month inside the consolidated figure.
"In just eight years we have gone from an oil startup to Argentina's leading independent oil producer and the country's largest crude exporter," said Miguel Galuccio, Vista's chairman and chief executive, as the company presented its updated May guidance.
The trajectory the record opens
May's jump is the first stop in a plan the company revised upward this month. Vista projects output above 160,000 boe/d from May and an average of around 158,000 boe/d across 2026, with adjusted EBITDA of $3 billion, 58% above prior guidance. Its long-term target moved from 200,000 to 250,000 boe/d by 2030. The plan rests on $1.8 billion in investment this year and $5.6 billion across the 2026–2028 period.
Efficiency has tracked the scale. Lifting cost stood at around $4.3 per boe in the first quarter, 8% below the same period of 2025 — a sign that volume growth is not eroding extraction cost. On that basis, the company holds an adjusted EBITDA margin of about 65%.
Block detail and the June rebound
Within May's consolidated figure, La Amarga Chica fell 12.7% from April, a move tied to the block's well-connection cadence rather than its productive potential: it ranks among Argentina's most productive fields. The company anticipated the area reverses course in June with six additional wells brought into the system, framing May's pause as a one-off.
The rest of the portfolio reinforces the trend. Bandurria Sur, which shifted its mix to 100% shale oil between the third quarter of 2025 and the first of 2026, and Bajo del Toro Norte, which grew 50% in six months, arrive in the consolidated figure with rising curves. The assets that added 18,008 boe/d in May still have room to run: management estimated the net contribution from Bandurria Sur and Bajo del Toro at around 20,000 boe/d, with scope to improve over the coming quarters.
May's record establishes Vista as Argentina's largest independent oil producer and its main crude exporter, ahead of the start-up of the Vaca Muerta Oil Sur pipeline (VMOS) toward the end of 2026, the project that will expand the basin's evacuation capacity and unlock the next leg of export growth. With the Equinor assets integrated and its own activity climbing, the company enters the second half of the year on the highest production base in its history.