While Argentina’s economic outlook is especially gloomy, the energy patch keeps pumping record volumes of crude oil. For March 2023, data from Argentina’s Ministry of Economy shows that petroleum production hit a new monthly high of 631,103 barrels per day, a nearly 1% increase compared to the month prior and a notable 12% higher year over year. That ranks Argentina as Latin America’s fifth largest oil producer and the country’s proven reserves of 2.48 billion barrels endows it with the.
Activity in Argentina’s energy patch is growing with the development of the Vaca Muerta shale formation located in the Neuquén Basin being the key driver of steadily rising hydrocarbon output. It is, nationalized in 2012 by then President now Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner who seized 51% of the company from Spanish energy major Repsol, which is spearheading the formation’s development. For 2023, YPF announced plans to invest $5 billion, with $2.