Return to Argentina
GeoPark, a Latin American E&P company active in Vaca Muerta, spudded its first well in the formation on Sunday, opening a campaign that targets a fourfold production increase by December 2026.
The company selected the Loma Jarillosa Este block in Neuquén province as its entry point — a concession it has operated with a 100% working interest since acquiring it from Pluspetrol, an Argentine independent oil and gas producer, in September 2025 for $115 million. The deal also marked GeoPark's return to Argentina after the company operated conventional wells in Mendoza and Santa Cruz provinces between 2006 and 2021.
The two acquired blocks — Loma Jarillosa Este and Puesto Silva Oeste — cover more than 12,300 gross acres in Vaca Muerta's oil window, the depth interval where reservoir conditions favor crude over gas, and hold estimated recoverable resources of more than 60 million gross barrels.
GeoPark has allocated $80–100 million for 2026 development. The near-term goal is to ramp current output — which the company places at approximately 1,500 bbl/d — to 5,000–6,000 bbl/d by year-end. The medium-term target is 20,000 bbl/d by end-2028, across 50–55 wells on 15 pads.
To support the campaign, GeoPark signed 40 commercial agreements with more than 30 contractors across multiple specialties. The company highlighted the local and regional supply-chain impact without naming the firms involved.
"Vaca Muerta is one of the most dynamic unconventional plays in the world, and we are building a position here that will be central to GeoPark's regional portfolio," said Ignacio Mazariegos, head of GeoPark's Argentine business unit.
The opening program is designed to transition into factory-mode drilling by the fourth quarter of 2026 — a high-cadence pad development approach GeoPark has deployed across other Latin American assets to drive down per-well costs and standardize execution. Gross investment through 2028 is projected at $500–600 million. The company's Neuquén office — currently around 30 staff — is expected to expand as operations scale.
At Puesto Silva Oeste, GeoPark operates alongside Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén (GyP), Neuquén province's state oil and gas company — which holds mineral rights over Neuquén's hydrocarbon blocks under Argentina's federal system of provincial resource sovereignty — on a 5% fully recoverable carry, meaning GeoPark funds GyP's share of development costs and recoups them from production proceeds. Both blocks are to be developed as an integrated hub anchored by a 20,000 bbl/d central processing plant and an interconnection pipeline, both slated for construction this year.