Sierra Chata averaged 9,336 thousand cubic meters per day (thousand m³/d) of gas in June, the highest monthly figure in a public series that begins in 2006.
The previous high was 8,106 thousand m³/d, set in July 2025. Output at the block, which Pampa Energía, a diversified Argentine energy company, operates with a 45.55% stake alongside majority partner YPF, Argentina's state-controlled oil and gas company, rose 11.9% from May and 42.7% year on year, according to Argentina's Secretariat of Energy.
Seventy-two wells reported gas in June, against 71 in June 2025. The count barely moved; the composition did. Nine of the wells producing last month did not exist as producers 12 months earlier, and together they delivered 4,310 thousand m³/d, or 46% of the block's total.
June's four largest producers all came from that group, each flowing between 649 and 674 thousand m³/d.
The other 63 wells, already online in June 2025, fell from 6,507 to 5,026 thousand m³/d. The block's base declined 22.8% year on year, and new drilling covered that loss before adding any volume.
The valid comparison at Sierra Chata is June against June. The number of wells reporting gas at the block moves with seasonal demand: 20 in December 2025 and 72 in June, with the same swing running through 2025.
On that even basis, the block started 2026 at 5,294 thousand m³/d and closed the first half 76% higher. Since Resolution 400/2025, which decentralized fuel procurement in Argentina's wholesale electricity market and removed CAMMESA, the market administrator, from its role as central fuel buyer, much of that gas has fed Pampa's own combined-cycle plants.
Company-Wide Gas Output Held Where It Was
Pampa's operated gas production reached 15,695 thousand m³/d in June, just 2.1% above June 2025. The movement inside that figure was of a different order: Sierra Chata added 2,792 thousand m³/d against last year while El Mangrullo subtracted 2,931. The positive balance came from Parva Negra Este, with 307 from a single well, and associated gas from Rincón de Aranda, with 159.
El Mangrullo fell 33.6% year on year to 5,793 thousand m³/d, with 92 wells reporting gas against 101 a year earlier. The company's own first-quarter results attributed the decline to the absence of new wells tied in since July 2025. Shale24 had already recorded the handover between the two gas blocks using May data.
Pampa's operated gas peak remains July 2025, at 16,863 thousand m³/d. June 2026 came in 6.9% below that mark.
Rincón de Aranda Lost Flow With the Same Set of Wells
Rincón de Aranda averaged 20,558 bbl/d in June, 19.8% below May and 134.9% above a year earlier. The 43 wells that reported oil in May were the same 43 in June: no additions, no removals. Of that set, 37 produced less than the previous month, and the five largest individual declines account for 1,066 of the 5,222 bbl/d lost. The drop was spread across the whole block.
Average productivity fell from 596 barrels per well in May to 478 in June, with the same set connected. The company's first-quarter results had already reported an average of 18,200 bbl/d sustained by 43 producing wells.
Rincón de Aranda is the largest capital allocation to a single asset in Pampa's history, with more than $1.5 billion in development outlays. Under Argentina's Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), the project is committed to 259 wells through 2041, split across three investment tranches totaling $4.52 billion. The 45,000 bbl/d plateau depends on the central processing facility and the Vaca Muerta Oil Sur pipeline (VMOS), both scheduled for 2027.
The two blocks now carrying Pampa's production share the same mechanics: each month's volume depends on how many wells entered the flow line. Sierra Chata added nine in a year and reached its record. Rincón de Aranda went two months without additions and lost a fifth of its flow.