Mendoza’s shale
Mendoza has delineated a strategic area of at least 600 square kilometers (about 230 square miles) within the northern extension of Vaca Muerta, the portion of the shale formation that lies inside the province, with geological parameters that suggest the potential for large-scale unconventional development.
The sector, known locally as the “Mendoza tongue,” combines thickness, thermal maturity and organic content at levels comparable to the core development window in neighboring Neuquén Province. “We have identified an area with thicknesses exceeding 200 meters and at least two landing zones equivalent to those in Neuquén,” Lucas Erio, Mendoza’s hydrocarbons director, told Shale24.
The push comes as Vaca Muerta in Neuquén posts record production and strengthens its export capacity, while exploratory campaigns begin to ramp up in Río Negro and Mendoza. For the province led by Gov. Alfredo Cornejo, the combination of a maturing play and what officials see as a favorable regulatory window places its segment of the basin at a key stage for accelerating investment.
The shale triangle
Within a triangle defined by the province, operations today include YPF, the Quintana–TSB joint venture and Tango Energía, formerly Aconcagua Energía.
YPF is advancing in the CN VII block with two exploratory wells drilled and a third planned. The next well will be a vertical well with two horizontal branches of roughly 2,500 meters (about 8,200 feet) each, raising the province’s operating standard toward a development scheme closer to that used in Neuquén.
Quintana–TSB is carrying out a 3D seismic program in Cañadón Amarillo and preparing to drill the first wells of the unconventional pilot committed under its contract renewal. At the same time, Tango Energía is moving forward in Payún Oeste with formation-focused interventions and a plan to drill its first horizontal well.
From Tango Energía, CEO Pablo Iuliano told Cornejo that the company will move ahead this year with exploratory work targeting Vaca Muerta in the Paso de las Bardas Este area. The company will combine continued conventional operations with a first shale-oriented well, in line with the province’s strategy to accelerate unconventional activity.
In that roughly 600-square-kilometer area where Mendoza concentrates its best geological conditions, the exploratory plans of YPF, Quintana Energy and Tango Energía converge as they advance in parallel over the oil window. For the province, that compact core of activity confirms the potential exists and that, with sustained investment, Mendoza’s oil window could consolidate as a new subzone within Vaca Muerta.
El Trébol, the first shale project
This new phase in Mendoza inevitably draws comparisons with the historic well drilled by Petrolera El Trébol in Puesto Rojas between 2017 and 2018. The project did not deliver strong results, but it is now viewed as part of the trial-and-error process of Mendoza’s unconventional learning curve, similar to what Neuquén experienced beginning in 2011.
“Any well provides data, but that was a different era. Today we are almost at a blank slate in technological and well design terms,” Erio said. The province believes it now has sufficient characterization, modern analytical techniques and operators willing to scale up activity.
Erio said the province is using available regulatory tools to align commitments and accelerate investment programs. “If an operator wants to extend a contract and there is shale potential, we are going to require an unconventional pilot,” he said. According to the official, the goal is to prevent decline and attract capital with clear rules, transparency in geological information and requirements aligned with the real potential of the subsurface.
The “Mendoza tongue” is shaping up as the next shale frontier. Definitive validation will come with the wells drilled in the coming months, but for the first time Mendoza says it has a concrete window within the Vaca Muerta map. “We know that as time moves forward, development will shift northward. We want Mendoza to be ready to receive it,” Erio said.