RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:merging with Crown PointThanks for the comments. I will hold through the merger. It does look like Argentina Oil/Gas production is ramping back up which is a good sign, I hope the combine firm can take advantage and the Argentina government does not get in the way. PO
Output from the Vaca Muerta region in Patagonia, which holds the fourth-largest shale oil reserves in the world, stalled during the coronavirus pandemic but hit a record high in December as producers revved up wells with an eye on rebounding prices and a new export market.
The revival of the formation that has been compared with the U.S. Permian Basin signals how it is growing more competitive globally, helped by government policies protecting oil producers, an export tax holiday and reviving global prices.
That could bring a timely injection of much needed dollars for the country's Peronist government, which has grappled with a sharp decline in foreign reserves due to the coronavirus pandemic and a currency crisis hammering the peso.
"In the last quarter (of 2020) prices began to rise," Emilio Apud, Argentina former energy secretary, told Reuters, adding that supportive policies for oil and a gas price freeze pushed producers towards unconventional oil.
"Producers stopped producing gas and switched to oil."
That saw oil production in Vaca Muerta hit a record 124,000 barrels per day (bpd) in December, according to data from consultancy Rystad Energy.