Pluspetrol, an Argentine independent oil and gas producer, has agreed to sell its operating stakes in two non-conventional blocks in the Neuquén Basin, Argentina's main hydrocarbon-producing region: an 80% interest in the Los Toldos I Sur UTE (Unión Transitoria de Empresas — a temporary joint venture structure under Argentine law) and a 50% stake in the Pampa de las Yeguas I non-conventional production and gas transport license, which it also currently operates.
The buyer is a U.S.-backed company. No financial terms were disclosed. Closing is subject to conditions precedent, including approval from Neuquén province.
In Los Toldos I Sur, the remaining partners are Tecpetrol, the Techint Group's exploration and production subsidiary, with 10%, and Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén (GyP), Neuquén province's state oil and gas company, with an additional 10%. In Pampa de las Yeguas I, the other 50% — not changing hands — is held by YPF, Argentina's state-controlled oil and gas company. YPF's partner status gives the company a voice in designating the replacement operator and in negotiating the development plan with the province.
Pluspetrol's Portfolio Reset
The transaction fits a portfolio realignment that has accelerated since Pluspetrol's landmark $1.75 billion acquisition of ExxonMobil's Argentine subsidiary in December 2024 — the largest deal in the company's history. That transaction brought four Vaca Muerta blocks — Bajo del Choique–La Invernada, Los Toldos I Sur, Los Toldos II Oeste, and Pampa de las Yeguas — plus a 21.3% stake in Oldelval, the Vaca Muerta crude oil pipeline operator, and consolidated Pluspetrol as the largest private hydrocarbon company in Latin America. It also made clear that not all acquired assets fit the company's long-term strategy.
The selection criteria were applied consistently: Pluspetrol moved to maximize its position in the highest-productivity blocks. Bajo del Choique–La Invernada — where the BdC-10 well ranks among the world's most productive shale oil wells — and La Calera, in the wet gas window (the liquids-rich portion of the formation where gas yields associated condensate and NGLs), were designated core assets. The rest were earmarked for divestiture.
The exit sequence moved fast. In August 2025, Fluxus — the oil and gas arm of Brazil's J&F Group — received Neuquén province approval for the Centenario I, II, and Centro blocks. In November, Continental Resources, the U.S. shale company, acquired 90% of Los Toldos II Oeste under Provincial Decree 1761/2025, marking Harold Hamm's formal entry into Vaca Muerta.
A month later, GeoPark, a Latin American E&P company active in Vaca Muerta, took Puesto Silva Oeste and Loma Jarillosa Este for $115 million, closing the transaction in October 2025. The current transaction closes that sequence: in fewer than 15 months, Pluspetrol exited four blocks while concentrating capital on the two it considers strategic.
The Buyer
According to Shale24, the buyer is JPM Energía S.A., a Neuquén-registered company backed by U.S. capital. The company's president is Gustavo Nagel, an executive with an extensive track record in Neuquén province's hydrocarbon sector.
Nagel served as a director of GyP (Gas y Petróleo de Neuquén) during the formative period of non-conventional development in the province — the years in which Neuquén built the regulatory and partnership framework that now governs Vaca Muerta block entry — and represented Neuquén on YPF's board following Argentina's 2012 nationalization of the company, when the government seized a controlling stake from Spain's Repsol. He was at the table when GyP drilled its first exploratory well in Vaca Muerta.
A Repeating Pattern
JPM Energía S.A.'s entry follows a model the market has repeatedly validated: international capital paired with a local executive with deep institutional ties. It is the same structure Fluxus used with Pluspetrol's field team, the same approach Brigham Exploration, a U.S. independent E&P company pursuing Vaca Muerta entry, is applying in its ongoing discussions with Neuquén province about potential block entry, and the template that characterized Continental Resources' entry into Los Toldos II Oeste.
The rationale is straightforward. Provincial approval of a block transfer in Vaca Muerta is not a routine administrative process: it requires negotiation with the Neuquén government, agreement on an investment plan, and coordination with existing partners — a process that can extend for months and reshape deal economics. A president with established relationships in the province substantially reduces that execution risk. JPM Energía S.A. does not arrive in Vaca Muerta as an unknown quantity — it arrives with an operator who knows the terrain.
The transaction was formally notified on March 26 by Pluspetrol S.A. to Argentina's National Securities Commission (CNV), the Buenos Aires stock exchange (ByMA), and A3 Mercados, a Buenos Aires securities market, in compliance with Argentina's material event disclosure requirements.