Vaca Muerta boosts Argentina's oil output to record number of BPDs

Saturday, October 30th 2021 - 09:22 UTC

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The Ricsa report also showed Investments worth US $ 42 million.

Argentina's output of crude oil has reached an unprecedented 532,566 barrels per day in September 2021, according to a report released Friday by the private firm Regional Investment Consulting (Ricsa), thus surpassing the previous highest mark of 528,782 bpds from March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

The new results came together with a 10% increase from Vaca Muerta alone, which in August 2021 reached 174,416 bpds, which accounts for 33% of the country's total production.

“In oil terms, of the five most productive wells in the country, the company YPF S.A. occupies the first position, while the second and third place corresponds to the ExxonMobil company”, the private report states.

Regarding gas in Vaca Muerta, the figure “remained practically the same as the situation in August”, with a negative monthly variation of 0.2%, and a total of 44.205 million m3 (cubic meters) of gas. Total Austral S.A. ranks in the top nine in terms of production volume. Meanwhile, the country's overall production reached 133,672 million m3 of gas, 0.8% less than in August, according to the report. Gas production in September was the second-highest in the last 12 years, with 133 million m3 per day, according to the Ministry of Energy.

According to official production figures, a total of approximately 68.1 million cubic meters per day of unconventional gas was registered in September, thus reaching an all-time high for the third consecutive month.

The Ricsa report also showed Investments worth US $ 42 million.

September also showed a YoY growth of non-conventional gas production of 30.9% while total gas did so by 7.9% with an increase of 2.8% compared to August, which if compared to prepandemic data, shows a 3.8% growth overall and 22% in unconventional gas production against February 2020 figures.

(Source: Infobae)