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.
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.
The Chilean state company doubled its profits while advancing a diversification plan, though it is considering the possibility of exporting unconventional oil from Neuquén via the Pacific Ocean through the port of San Vicente.
Preparatory work is underway for the directional drilling on the north bank, while on the south bank a welded and hydrostatically tested pipe section is ready for insertion, with additional works still pending at the site.
With 1,791 stages, December reflected a slight slowdown, coming in below the annual monthly average of 1,982 stages and well off the record set in May at 2,588. YPF continued to dominate activity with 778 stages, accounting for 43% of the monthly total.
With a portfolio that already exceeds 27 submitted projects and investment commitments topping $33 billion, extending the deadline to 2027 could unlock additional investment and new projects, further expanding the country’s energy and mining frontier.
Its arrival underscores operators’ push for cutting-edge technology in Latin America’s leading shale formation.
Vaca Muerta is now the world’s second-most productive shale formation, trailing only the Permian Basin in the United States. Here are the numbers, drivers and projections behind a level of growth Argentina has never seen before.
During Vista Energy’s recent Investor Day, where Miguel Galuccio, the company’s chief executive, laid out a strategic plan that includes a US$4.5 billion investment in Vaca Muerta through 2028, Shale24 secured an exclusive interview to capture his outlook.
