Vista is Argentina’s first pure-play shale operator. Its business is focused exclusively on the production of high-quality oil in Vaca Muerta. The company’s purpose is to become a low-cost, low-carbon operator, ranking as the country’s second-largest producer of unconventional oil. It recently strengthened its leadership by acquiring strategic assets from Equinor in the basin.
Asian buyers took 20.7% of Argentine energy exports between January and July, up from 7.9% across all of 2025, according to Secretariat of Energy shipment records. Medanito crude accounts for nearly three-quarters of the flow, and the destination list has widened from four countries to seven
The operator, formerly Petrolera Aconcagua Energía, will run three unconventional concessions on Vaca Muerta's eastern flank for 35 years, while Vista cedes half the shale economic rights to a jointly held company, URSA.
The Miguel Galuccio-led company averaged 139,469 bbl/d of crude in May, up 39.5% year-on-year, in its first full month consolidating Bandurria Sur and Bajo del Toro. Directly operated areas rose 2.8% from April.
Halliburton, SLB, Tenaris, Calfrac and SPI split the 9,714 stages completed between January and April. SPI, the in-house unit Pluspetrol built on Weatherford Argentina's former assets, debuted as the fifth player; YPF locked Halliburton in with an exclusive five-year electric fracturing contract.
YPF's plan calls for 1,152 wells in Vaca Muerta and a 240,000 bbl/d crude plateau by 2032, all routed for export via VMOS. It is the first integrated cluster structure filed under the regime, and the first major upstream submission presented without partners, signaling a new phase of YPF's Plan 4x4.
The state-controlled producer paid $163.175 million plus a $41 million closing adjustment to consolidate three Vaca Muerta blocks it already operated, completing the equity-side leg of the Plan 4x4 ahead of VMOS startup and the Argentina LNG final investment decision
The Argentine independent's Q1 2026 oil production averaged 116,655 bbl/d, up 68% year-on-year, while net income climbed to $107.7 million from $82.8 million a year earlier
The 12-year instrument, placed in international markets at a coupon below the 8% threshold, anchors annual capital expenditure of $1.5–$1.6 billion through 2028, positioning Vista as the second Argentine upstream company to tap international debt markets this year
With seven professional training tracks and cutting-edge learning technology, the Vaca Muerta Institute was officially inaugurated at its headquarters in Neuquén’s Technology Park
Wood Mackenzie quantified the scale of the effort the industry will need to undertake to turn Vaca Muerta into a shale oil export hub. The key question: can execution capacity keep pace without creating bottlenecks?
The company acquired the assets of the Norwegian firm, which withdrew from the country, and is now awaiting a decision from the pipeline consortium and Chilean national authorities to add its shale oil volumes.
With Veladero and Diablillos, the sector now accounts for six of the 12 projects approved under the regime. The pending pipeline — led by Glencore with $13.5 billion in copper projects — suggests that share will grow even further.
The company carried out an abrasive jet perforation with coiled tubing in a deep horizontal well in Vaca Muerta, completing six clusters and stabilizing surface pressure at 8,000 psi. The milestone underscores the ongoing trend of reducing non-productive time and improving operational efficiency in the shale.
Argentina’s negotiable obligations market tops $20B in 2025, projects another solid year in 2026 as energy accounts for nearly half of corporate financing
Argentina is emerging as a regional shale powerhouse, but with weak Brent prices and higher costs, the market in 2026 will demand greater, almost surgical efficiency. The energy map is being rewritten, and the question is whether profitability will hold in the next chapter.
