YPF has filed a $25 billion upstream project under Argentina's Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI): the largest single submission since the regime's 2024 launch.
The project, named LLL Oil, would drill 1,152 wells across contiguous shale acreage in Vaca Muerta and reach a 240,000 bbl/d crude plateau by 2032, with output entirely destined for export through the Vaca Muerta Oil Sur pipeline (VMOS) and roughly 10 million m³/d of associated gas delivered to Argentina's domestic market.
The 15-year plan is the first cluster-based submission under the RIGI, integrating five contiguous blocks under a single operation that will share surface facilities, drilling rigs, frac sets, and sand and water logistics.
YPF, Argentina's state-controlled oil and gas company, projects $6 billion in annual export revenue by 2032 and roughly 6,000 direct jobs during development, according to the company's statement. Whether those targets hold will depend on factors the filing cannot yet resolve, including well productivity over plateau, pipeline takeaway timing, and the durability of the RIGI framework as projects continue to accumulate.
As of early May, the RIGI pipeline stood at $94.97 billion in cumulative filings ($27.21 billion approved and $67.76 billion pending) according to data from Argentina's Ministry of Economy. The largest individual filings until LLL Oil were mining projects: Glencore's El Pachón and MARA copper plans ($13.5 billion combined) and Vicuña Corp's Josemaría and Filo del Sol developments ($18 billion combined).
In upstream, the closest precedents were Pampa Energía's $4.5 billion Rincón de Aranda filing in March and Pluspetrol's announced $12 billion plan for the Bajo del Choique–La Invernada block, acquired by Pluspetrol from ExxonMobil, which has yet to be formally submitted.
YPF chairman and CEO Horacio Marín announced the filing on X, stating that the project will generate more than $100 billion in exports over its life.
A Cluster Structure for the Shale Oil Window
The LLL designation traces back to Loma La Lata–Sierra Barrosa, YPF's historic Neuquén concession, which gives the wells in the cluster their well codes. From that perimeter, YPF carved out the blocks it added to unconventional development starting in 2013, when Loma Campana became the first area to develop Vaca Muerta at industrial scale through YPF's joint venture with Chevron, the U.S. energy major.
The LLL Oil cluster brings together five contiguous blocks in the volatile-oil window of the play: La Angostura Norte, La Angostura Sur I, La Angostura Sur II, La Angostura Suroeste, and Barreal Grande. La Angostura Sur I anchors the cluster: operational since late 2024, it ranked among the five most productive blocks in the Neuquén Basin within 18 months of first production, with output exceeding 45,000 bbl/d by March according to company data.
The operational model that LLL Oil formalizes is the integration of those contiguous areas under a single RIGI project. YPF's statement specifies that the blocks will share surface facilities, drilling rigs, frac sets, and sand and water logistics under one operation. It is the first time a cluster scheme has been formalized within the regime, with economies of scale across services and logistics declared as a pillar of the design.
Plan 4x4: From Consolidation to Capex Deployment
LLL Oil arrives after two months in which YPF closed out its Vaca Muerta portfolio consolidation. On April 30, the company completed the acquisition of 100% of the Southern Hub from Pluspetrol, an Argentine independent oil and gas producer. The Southern Hub comprises the Meseta Buena Esperanza, Aguada Villanueva, and Las Tacanas blocks in Neuquén province.
A week later, on May 7, YPF closed a back-to-back transaction that allowed it to absorb stakes formerly held by Equinor, the Norwegian energy major, in Bandurria Sur and Bajo del Toro/Bajo del Toro Norte through Vista Energy, an independent Vaca Muerta-focused producer. In parallel, YPF has been divesting 49 mature conventional blocks under Plan 4x4, a portfolio strategy launched in 2024 that prioritizes Vaca Muerta shale and sheds lower-margin conventional acreage.
Unlike the VMOS pipeline project, which YPF filed under the RIGI in November 2024 alongside a six-company consortium of Pan American Energy (PAE), Argentina's largest private oil producer; Vista Energy; Pampa Energía, a diversified Argentine energy company; Pluspetrol; Chevron; and Shell Argentina, a subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch energy major, LLL Oil arrives as a solo development.
It also differs from the Argentina LNG agreement signed with ENI, the Italian energy company, and XRG, ADNOC's international investment arm, in being executed entirely by YPF. The signal is execution without partners on previously consolidated assets, marking a distinct phase of Plan 4x4: the company has moved past portfolio consolidation and into capex deployment.
Per-Well Capex and Plateau Capacity
Dividing capex by well count yields an average implied capex of $21.7 million per well, all-in. The figure includes not just drilling and completion but the cluster's shared infrastructure: roads, gathering lines, treatment plants, and water sourcing. Current operational benchmarks for Argentine shale put standalone capex per well between $9 million and $11 million.
The 240,000 bbl/d plateau divided across 1,152 wells yields an average of 208 bbl/d per well at plateau, a metric consistent with a mix of wells in ramp-up, plateau, and decline. YPF reported a consolidated lifting cost of $8.8/bbl in its first-quarter 2026 earnings call, with the shale portion at roughly $4/bbl and Angostura Sur at $3/bbl. Applied to LLL Oil's plateau, that operating cost represents around $350 million annually, a level sustainable even with Brent in the $60/bbl range.
The plateau would absorb 43.6% of the VMOS pipeline's initial capacity of 550,000 bbl/d (operational in the second half of 2027), more than double YPF's current contribution to the system.