Chevron, the U.S. energy major, will file a Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI) application for more than $10 billion in Vaca Muerta within the coming days, Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo confirmed. The ticket marks an order-of-magnitude jump from the U.S. major's individual public commitments over its 13-year operating history in the country.
The filing places Chevron among the largest single applications presented under the RIGI, alongside Pluspetrol's plan for the Bajo del Choique–La Invernada block in the western Neuquén Basin and trailing only the projects tied to the Argentina LNG complex led by YPF, Argentina's state-controlled oil and gas company, in partnership with Italy's Eni and XRG, ADNOC's international investment arm. It is the first announcement within a wave of seven-to-eight RIGI projects worth $30 billion to $40 billion combined that Caputo flagged on April 28 at Expo EFI, an annual investor forum hosted in Buenos Aires.
Whether the full ticket translates into committed development will depend on factors the announcement does not yet resolve — among them the consistency of Argentina's regulatory framework, the trajectory of crude prices, and the drilling rhythm Chevron can sustain at El Trapial-Este, the asset designated to anchor the application.
The confirmation followed a meeting in which Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno and Argentina's ambassador to the United States, Alec Oxenford, also took part, alongside CFO Eimear Bonner and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Laura Lane.
The Scale of the Step-Up
Chevron entered the Neuquén Basin 13 years ago with a $500 million commitment to begin development of Loma Campana, in a 50/50 partnership with YPF, under Decree 929/2013 — the first regulatory instrument that allowed partial free disposal of foreign currency for hydrocarbon projects in Argentina.
Subsequent expansions made the block the country's largest shale oil producer, with output of around 100,000 boe/d and 48 wells drilled in 2024, according to company disclosures. In 2023, Chevron added a $500 million commitment to begin formal development of El Trapial, announced at Argentina's Treasury palace in Buenos Aires.
The project now bound for the RIGI multiplies that trajectory by an order of magnitude.
At more than $10 billion, Chevron joins the largest individual applications presented under the regime, in line with Pluspetrol's plan for Bajo del Choique–La Invernada and trailing only the projects tied to the Argentina LNG complex.
Caputo had previewed on April 28 at Expo EFI that seven to eight projects worth $30 billion to $40 billion combined would enter the RIGI in coming weeks, concentrated mainly in upstream. Chevron's filing is the first of that new wave to be confirmed with a defined ticket and identified operator.
El Trapial-Este, Loma Campana, and Narambuena: The Portfolio
El Trapial-Este is the natural vehicle for the bulk of the commitment.
In 2022, Neuquén province granted Chevron Argentina a new unconventional production concession over the eastern half of the block for 35 years. Together with the contiguous El Trapial-Curamched conventional concession, the area covers 450 square kilometers (around 110,000 acres) under the company's full ownership and operatorship. That structure allows Chevron to file a Single Project Vehicle (VPU) without partner coordination — a step that has slowed most consortium-based RIGI applications in Vaca Muerta to date.
El Trapial-Este sits on the formation's northern fringe, in the Rincón de los Sauces area of Neuquén province, within the oil window. Chevron told investors the area went through a seven-well evaluation program in 2021 and has been under formal development with sequential drilling since late 2022.
The type curve — a statistical composite representing expected well performance for a given zone — and the transfer of learnings from the Permian Basin, the world's most prolific shale play and the region in which Chevron is among the largest operators, define the asset's operating template.
Loma Campana, where Chevron retains a 50% stake alongside YPF as operator, falls outside the expected filing because of its corporate structure: any RIGI application over the block would require coordination with YPF and a separately structured VPU. The same applies to Narambuena, where Chevron holds a 50% non-operating interest with YPF as operator. Both concessions, however, anchor the development thesis underpinning Chevron's Argentine program.
Since late 2024, Chevron's Argentine assets have reported, within the company's internal structure, to the Unconventionals Department alongside the Permian Basin team.
The technical parameter most relevant for sizing the capex is drilling pace. In its 2024 investor communications, Chevron flagged a program of three active drilling rigs at El Trapial-Este. A commitment exceeding $10 billion implies a meaningful expansion of that pace, in line with the intensity of the play's leading operators.
Why Now: Chevron's Corporate Calendar
The announcement came five business days after Chevron's first-quarter 2026 earnings call.
In the May 1 presentation, Bonner reaffirmed full-year 2026 capex guidance of $18 billion to $19 billion and a 7%–10% year-on-year production growth target. Chevron added approximately 500,000 boe/d in the first quarter compared with the same period of 2025 from the integration of Hess, among the largest oil industry deals of the past five years. Bonner also confirmed the structural cost reduction target of $3 billion to $4 billion by year-end 2026, describing a portfolio architecture designed to maintain capital and cost discipline across price scenarios.
In that context, the Argentine commitment realigns the geographic distribution of the company's capital. Through fiscal 2025, CEO Mike Wirth had characterized Chevron's Argentine pace as gradual; the shift in tone was first signaled at CERAWeek, the annual global energy conference organized by S&P Global, in Houston in March, with the public confirmation of a relaunched investment push under President Javier Milei's administration, which took office in December 2023 on a platform of radical economic deregulation.
The asset's incorporation into the Unconventionals Department and the joint presence of Bonner and Lane — a career executive in the U.S. Foreign Service, the U.S. Trade Representative's office, Citigroup, and UPS before joining Chevron in February 2025 as global corporate affairs lead — confirm the political-financial weight of the move. The Argentine counterparties at the meeting were, simultaneously, the head of economic policy, the head of foreign affairs, and the country's senior representative in Washington.