Argentina breaks its all-time oil production record: 10 key factors behind the fast-growing boom

For the first time in its 118-year oil history, in October 2025 Argentina topped 850,000 barrels per day of crude, surpassing the country’s 1998 record. The driving force is unmistakable: Vaca Muerta, now responsible for two out of every three barrels produced nationwide and at the center of a technological, operational and economic shift with few precedents in Latin America. What follows are the 10 technical factors behind how the milestone was reached and why hitting 1 million barrels per day before 2028 is no longer a projection but a target already in motion.

The 10 key factors behind Argentina’s record oil production (October 2025)

1. Unprecedented production volume: Argentina averaged 859,542 barrels per day of crude in October 2025, the highest in the nation’s 118 years of oil development. The figure not only broke the symbolic and technical 850,000-bpd barrier for the first time, but also pushed past the previous record from July 1998 (843,000 b/d) by more than 16,000 barrels. Sector analysts say it sets a long-awaited milestone that signals the beginning of a new phase of energy self-sufficiency and sustained surplus. 
2. Vaca Muerta dominance and Neuquén’s leadership: Vaca Muerta produced 567,742 barrels per day, 66.1% of all crude in Argentina, while the province of Neuquén reached its own all-time high at 587,190 b/d (68.3% of national output). The formation is now the most important oil basin in Latin America and the world’s second-most productive shale play after the Permian Basin in the United States.
3. A structural shift to unconventional oil: Shale and tight oil accounted for 60.4% of Argentina’s total output (519,000 b/d), while conventional production fell to 340,542 b/d. In just 48 months, the share of unconventional production jumped from 32% to 60.4% a seismic shift that fully offset natural declines in mature fields in the San Jorge Gulf, the conventional Neuquén Basin and the Northwest Basin, reversing decades of structural decline.
4. Explosive, sustained growth: National production climbed 12.8% year-over-year (+97,000 b/d vs. October 2024) and 6.1% month-to-month. Over the past 12 months, 312 new shale wells were brought online, bringing Vaca Muerta’s active well count to 4,237. Operators are maintaining a steady pace of 25–30 new wells per month and annualized growth above 10% since 2022.
5. Operational concentration among five major producers: YPF, Argentina’s state-controlled energy company, led shale output with 200,150 b/d (35% of Vaca Muerta’s total). It was followed by Vista Energy (95,800 b/d), Pan American Energy (82,400 b/d), Shell (68,500 b/d) and Pampa Energía (52,300 b/d). Together, these five operators account for 70.2% of total production in the play and more than 80% of investment, reflecting a market increasingly concentrated among companies with scale, advanced technology and the financial capacity to develop large projects.
6. A technological leap in drilling and completions: Average horizontal laterals for new wells exceeded 3,850 meters, with YPF setting an 8,200-meter national record in Bandurria Sur. Drilling times fell to an average of 10.8 days for 3,000-meter laterals and just 11 days for nearly 6,000-meter wells. Initial 90-day production (IP90) in core areas like La Amarga Chica and Loma Campana reached 1,250 to 1,450 barrels per day per well.
7. Record-setting hydraulic fracturing efficiency: Frac fleets averaged 42 stages per day, using 2,200–2,500 lb/ft of sand and 45–50 bbl/ft of fluid. Widespread adoption of 3D fracture simulators, biodegradable diverters and electric pumps increased estimated ultimate recovery to more than 650,000 barrels per well in the best areas. These improvements are delivering flatter decline curves and higher profitability for operators, even under moderate global price conditions.
8. Infrastructure at capacity and major expansions underway: The Oldelval and OTASA pipelines operated at 98% and 92% of capacity, respectively, forcing the use of roughly 15,000 truck trips per day. To relieve the bottleneck, construction is accelerating on the Vaca Muerta Oil Sur line (adding 390,000 b/d in 2026), the duplication of Oldelval in 2027, and new pipelines to Chile and the Atlantic. Combined, they will add more than 1 million b/d of evacuation capacity by 2028.
9. Premium crude and record exports: Vaca Muerta’s light oil (38–42° API with under 0.3% sulfur) sold at a differential of just –$4.2 against WTI in October, its tightest spread since 2021. That helped push net crude exports to a record 185,000 b/d and lifted the monthly energy trade surplus above $1.2 billion.
10. On track for 1 million barrels per day: With 38–40 drilling rigs active and more than $18 billion in planned investment for 2025–26, both the Energy Secretariat and major operators agree that Argentina will top 1 million b/d before 2028. That would position the country as the world’s third-largest shale oil producer, behind only the United States and Canada, and make Argentina a structural net exporter of oil for the first time in its history.