Argentina's Daily Oil Production Poised to Reach 1 Million Barrels for the First Time

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 28, Horacio Marín, CEO of Argentina's state oil company YPF, stated that Argentina's daily oil production is expected to reach 1 million barrels for the first time in the near term. In an interview with LN+ that day, Marín said that YPF's rig count in Vaca Muerta has increased from 12 in December last year and is expected to reach 21 by February 2027; Argentina's oil export value is projected to rise to 18 billion USD.

Argentina's oil production has continued to set records this year. YPF's Vaca Muerta development materials published this year list 1 million barrels per day as the national oil production growth target, with the production increase mainly relying on unconventional oil and gas development in Vaca Muerta and the expansion of supporting export infrastructure. YPF is currently the main shale oil producer in Vaca Muerta and is undertaking the construction of multiple crude oil pipeline and export terminal projects.

Crude oil export capacity is being expanded in parallel. The Vaca Muerta Oil Sur (VMOS) project plans to build a 437-kilometer pipeline connecting the Vaca Muerta production area to the Punta Colorada export terminal in Río Negro Province, with an initial design capacity of 550,000 barrels per day, which can be further increased to 700,000 barrels per day. The project includes the construction of tank farms and single-point mooring loading facilities.

YPF's previously announced midstream expansion plan shows that the crude oil export and refining intake capacity of the Neuquén Basin is expected to increase from approximately 540,000 barrels per day at the end of 2024 to approximately 930,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2026, and further to approximately 1.3 million barrels per day in the third quarter of 2027 after VMOS is commissioned, with the potential to eventually reach approximately 1.5 million barrels per day. The expansion projects include VMOS, the Oldelval capacity expansion, the Vaca Muerta Norte pipeline, and the trans-Andean oil pipeline system.

Marín also stated that YPF's oil production since its founding in 1922 reached the company's historical peak in 2025, and the company plans to expand its operating scale to more than four times the current level in the coming years. YPF is currently implementing its "4×4" strategy, with Vaca Muerta shale oil, crude oil export infrastructure, and Argentina LNG listed as the main investment directions.

The Argentina LNG project is also being advanced in parallel. This year, YPF has been working with partners including Eni and XRG to advance upstream development. In August, the project applied to join Argentina's Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), declaring an investment scale of approximately 51 billion USD; in September, it obtained a financing intention of up to 6 billion USD from the U.S. Export-Import Bank. In this interview, Marín stated that YPF is advancing related technical, contractual, and financing work, and plans to complete the final investment decision in due course.