MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

YPF strikes shale gas in Vaca Muerta; initial production 43.000 m3day

The find, in the Patagonian province of Neuquen, suggests there is likely much more gas in the vast but barely tapped Vaca Muerta field, YPF said.

Argentina's government managed energy company YPF said on Sunday that it turned up a new promising shale gas deposit in its giant Vaca Muerta field in the south of the country.The find, in the Patagonian province of Neuquen, suggests there is likely much more gas in the vast but barely tapped Vaca Muerta field, YPF said.

 The find, in the Patagonian province of Neuquen, suggests there is likely much more gas in the vast but barely tapped Vaca Muerta field, YPF said.
“Initial results showed high gas productivity,” YPF said in a statement. “The La Ribera x-1 well had initial productivity of 43,000 cubic meters of gas per day with a thickness of 258 meters.”

The announcement follows YPF's discovery of a conventional oil field in the southern province of Rio Negro with reserves of around 40 million barrels last month.

For the finds, YPF credited its exploratory push following the government's takeover of the company from Spain's Repsol SA in 2012.

Latin America's No. 3 economy is betting that boosting investments in Vaca Muerta will help it reduce energy imports, which have been draining its low foreign reserves.

In effect according to Morgan Stanley, Argentina not only does it have favorable geological conditions, an unutilized infrastructure grid and low investment costs, but the country has an urgent demand for energy and its resources are conveniently located in established provinces such as Neuquen and Rio Negro, which cover much of the emerging hot bed plays.

Argentina is home to 27 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 802 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, primarily in and around multiple prolific shale basins in the central Neuquen province, including the prized Vaca Muerta shale.

Vaca Muerta alone represents 40% of Argentina's shale gas resources and 60% of its shale oil. Moreover, the basin is in the Neuquen province, which is at the core of Argentina's production history and where the necessary infrastructure for oil production is already present.