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Vaca Muerta Shale Basin Argentina
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By: BankTrack
Created on: 2020-02-17 13:02:31
Last update: 2022-04-19 00:00:00

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The Vaca Muerta Shale Basin is located in the Neuquén Basin in Patagonia, Argentina. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (NASA Earth Observatory).
Sectors Oil and Gas Extraction, Pipeline Transportation of Crude Oil, Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas
Location
Status
Planning
Design
Agreement
Construction
Operation
Closure
Decommission
Website https://www.ypf.com/Vacamuertachallenge/Paginas/index.html

About Vaca Muerta Shale Basin

According to the US Energy Information Agency, Argentina has the second-largest shale gas reserves and fourth-largest shale oil reserves in the world. The country's shale gas reserves alone would account for 11.4% of the world’s remaining 1.5°C carbon budget if exploited to its maximum. Nearly all of these reserves are located in the Neuquén Basin in Northern Patagonia. 

The Vaca Muerta Shale Basin is located in the Neuquén Basin. It has been identified as the largest shale play outside North America. The megaproject entails extraction from the area’s enormous shale oil and gas reserves, as well as building associated infrastructure such as pipelines and LNG terminals. The deposit extends over 30,000 square kilometres and represents 43% of Argentina's total oil production and 60% of its gas production.

Initially, this basin was supposed to contribute towards energy self-sufficiency, but recently, the export potential of the region has been realised and more attention is being paid towards exports.

As of 14 February 2022, the administration of Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández has further advanced its planned US$3.5bn gas pipeline project.

Fernández issued a decree giving state energy company IEASA a 35-year transport concession for the central component, the Presidente Néstor Kirchner duct. The decree states that IEASA is authorized to build, maintain and operate the duct, either directly or via third parties.

The decree also establishes an administrative and financial trust, Fondesgas, with state-owned investment and foreign trade bank BICE appointed trustee. Issuance of associated debt instruments and project participation certificates will also be authorized, the decree states.

Argentina plans to tackle the overall project in two phases, with the first financed using public funds and sporting a price tag of around US$1.6bn. 

A central purpose of the pipeline and its ancillary elements is easing a winter dispatch bottleneck at the Vaca Muerta shale play in the Neuquina basin and, in turn, supporting output growth so that costly imports can be substituted with cheaper domestic production.

Latest developments

Activity levels in Vaca Muerta keep rising

2022-03-10 00:00:00

Argentina seeks bids to build first phase of Vaca Muerta gas pipeline

2022-02-24 00:00:00

Why this profile?

The Vaca Muerta fracking megaproject poses grave risks to the world's climate as well as to indigenous communities. The UN Economic and Social Council recommends against fracking in Vaca Muerta in order to align with the Paris Agreement as well as to preserve the economic and social rights of future generations. The megaproject threatens the rights of the Mapuche indigenous community, who oppose the fracking activities on their land.

What must happen

Banks should avoid financing new oil and gas extraction projects in the Vaca Muerta Shale Basin, and phase out their support for existing fossil fuel projects in the area. Banks should also demand that the companies they finance refrain, or withdraw, from involvement in Vaca Muerta. In general, banks should phase out their support for fossil fuel companies on a timeline consistent with what is necessary to meet the Paris targets.

Impacts

Social and human rights impacts

Indigenous rights Indigenous communities living on the land are heavily opposed to the fracking activities taking place. They have not been asked for, and thus have not given, their free, prior and informed consent for the activities taking place on their lands. According to The Guardian, The Mapuche's cultural identity is being denied with the purpose of refusing community legal rights. Already at this stage of development, their ancestral lands are irreversibly damaged: water and air have been contaminated, plants have dried up, and new diseases have appeared.

  • Intentional fire When Chevron started its operations in Vaca Muerta in 2013, it started fracking in the Loma Campana, an oil field of which the ownership was in dispute. In 2015, the government recognised that part of the land belongs to the Mapuche community. A spokeswoman for the Mapuche community explained how the oil companies entered the land without their permission in 2013. At that time, the indigenous community built an observation facility to keep track of the activities of oil and gas companies on their lands. A few months after building it, the facility was burned down in an intentional fire.

Public health In 2018, the Mapuche filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, Total and Pan American Energy, accusing the companies of dumping toxic waste too close to the town of Añelo, indigenous lands and the region's principal river. The toxic waste is not being treated according to laws and therefore threatens human health. It contains high levels of hazardous elements that pose risks to reproduction and inhalation.

Workers safety In March 2019, a strike was called after the death of a worker in one accident and another that caused three injuries in Vaca Muerta.

Local disruptions

  • Prices The food and housing prices in the Vaca Muerta region are tied to oil and gas workers' salaries, even though they only make up a minority of the population.
  • Urban growth A so-called 'gold-rush' effect caused urban growth and unmanaged migration into the Vaca Muerta region. The population of Añelo city grew from 2,500 to more than 6,000 people in less than three years. Families with little resources end up on the outskirts of towns.
  • Trafficking Due to unmanaged migration to the region, trafficking of women and drugs has increased. A report found that 67% of the women being trafficked are found in oil towns.

Local groups working on Vaca Muerta

  • Observatorio Petroleo Sur (OPSUR)
  • Enlace por la Justicia Energética y Socioambiental (EJES)
  • Taller Ecologista
  • Oilwatch LatinoAmerica
  • Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN)
  • Periodistas por el Planeta
  • Asociación Argentina de Abogados Ambientalistas (AAdeAA)
  • EcoLeaks

Environmental and climate impacts

Climate change In order to align with the Paris Agreement and avoid climate disaster, oil and gas production needs to be phased out as soon as possible. The carbon emissions from existing oil and gas operations would already push the world beyond 1.5°C warming - thereby making it impossible to meet the demands of the Paris Agreement. The Argentinean gas reserves alone could already eat up 11.4% of the world's remaining budget required to keep global temperature rise to below 1.5º. If the Vaca Muerta megaproject would receive the investments and support needed for expansion, the cumulative emissions are expected to quadruple by 2050 - exceeding 8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide in total. In order to make exports viable, extraction operations from Vaca Muerta would need to be doubled in the next five years, which would mean that the reserve is responsible for an export of more than 500,000 barrels of oil every day. This extraction would have environmental repercussions in the form of increased carbon dioxide emissions from the reserve and excessive emissions from transporting operations required to move the surplus barrels of oil.

Pollution Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the technology being used to develop unconventional hydrocarbon reservoires. Scientific research shows that the employment of fracking negatively impacts public health, water, soil and air. The technique makes use of several dangerous chemicals that are released during the process causing pollution. In the Vaca Muerta Shale Basin, fracking has caused leaks causing both air and water pollution.

Methane leaks It was found that methane leaks often occur during operations in Vaca Muerta. This potent greenhouse gas heats the planet 86 times more intensely than CO2 over a period of 20 years.

Oil spills Oil spills often occur in Vaca Muerta. Reportedly, an average of three oil spills per day took place between January 2018 and October 2018. In November 2018, Argentinean authorities suspended the license of the YPF/Schlumberger partnership that was operating at a shale well in the Vaca Muerta. The suspension followed a major well blow-out that contaminated 85 hectares of land with oil and drilling mud.

Governance

Bank policies

The following bank investment policies apply to this project:
Goldman Sachs
csr policies
2011-08-03 00:00:00

Human Rights Statement

2011-08-03 00:00:00 | Goldman Sachs
csr policies
2020-02-11 00:00:00

Environmental policy framework

2020-02-11 00:00:00 | Goldman Sachs
Morgan Stanley
csr policies
2019-03-15 00:00:00

Coal and oil & gas policy statements

2019-03-15 00:00:00 | Morgan Stanley
csr policies
2019-08-08 00:00:00

Statement on human rights

2019-08-08 00:00:00 | Morgan Stanley
csr policies
2020-12-31 00:00:00

Environmental and social policy statement

2020-12-31 00:00:00 | Morgan Stanley
ING
csr policies
2019-12-19 00:00:00

Stance on human rights

Date listed represents date as accessed on website
2019-12-19 00:00:00 | ING
csr policies
2019-12-19 00:00:00

Stance on extractives industry

Date listed represents date as accessed on website
2019-12-19 00:00:00 | ING
csr policies
2021-02-15 00:00:00

Stance on climate

Date listed represents date as accessed on website
2021-02-15 00:00:00 | ING
csr policies
2021-06-30 00:00:00

Environmental and social risk framework

2021-06-30 00:00:00 | ING
csr policies
2022-03-23 00:00:00

Energy policy

2022-03-23 00:00:00 | ING
csr policies
2022-03-23 00:00:00

Oil & gas industry policy

2022-03-23 00:00:00 | ING
HSBC
csr policies
2020-04-23 00:00:00

Energy policy

2020-04-23 00:00:00 | HSBC
csr policies
2021-02-10 00:00:00

Introduction to HSBC’s Sustainability Risk Policies

2021-02-10 00:00:00 | HSBC
Citi
csr policies
2018-11-22 00:00:00

Statement on human rights

2018-11-22 00:00:00 | Citi
csr policies
2022-03-01 00:00:00

Environmental and Social Policy Framework

2022-03-01 00:00:00 | Citi
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)
csr policies
2021-07-22 00:00:00

Guidelines on environmental information disclosure for financial institutions

2021-07-22 00:00:00 | People's Bank of China
csr policies
2021-09-17 00:00:00

Credit policies for domestic industries: mining, energy, oil & gas, transportation, biodiversity and agriculture

Page 12 of 2021 interim ESG report
2021-09-17 00:00:00 | ICBC
Deutsche Bank
csr policies
2016-06-09 00:00:00

Position on Shale Gas

2016-06-09 00:00:00 | Deutsche Bank
csr policies
2016-03-24 00:00:00

Human Rights Statement

2016-03-24 00:00:00 | Deutsche Bank
csr policies
2020-07-27 00:00:00

Environmental and Social Policy Framework

2020-07-27 00:00:00 | Deutsche Bank
Credit Suisse
csr policies
2019-03-05 00:00:00

Statement on human rights

2019-03-05 00:00:00 | Credit Suisse
csr policies
2021-11-04 00:00:00

Summary of sector policies and guidelines

2021-11-04 00:00:00 | Credit Suisse
csr policies
2021-03-10 00:00:00

Sustainable investing policy

2021-03-10 00:00:00 | Credit Suisse

Applicable norms and standards

The National Law of Hazardous Waste (Argentina)
UNFCC - The Paris Agreement

Updates

Activity levels in Vaca Muerta keep rising

2022-03-10 00:00:00

Enverus, a global energy data analytics and SaaS technology company, anticipates activity levels within the Vaca Muerta field to keep climbing. YPF (Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales) planned to spend $1.5 billion in 2021, PAE (Pan American Energy) is investing ~$150 million in infrastructure through mid-2023 and Royal Dutch Shell intends to spend $1 billion to drill 100 wells through 2022.

Argentina seeks bids to build first phase of Vaca Muerta gas pipeline

2022-02-24 00:00:00

The Argentinan government has launched tenders to acquire 656km of pipes for the construction of the project's first stage, which is estimated to cost $1.6bn. The first stage of the construction work is planned to be completed in approximately 18 months. It is expected to add 24 million cubic meters more per day of gas into the country's network, by the winter of 2023.

The project will see the construction of a 1,430km-long pipeline from the Vaca Muerta reserves to Uruguiana, Brazil. From there, another 600km-long pipeline is planned to be built to the city of Porto Alegre, to connect to the gas distribution netywork of southern Brazil.

ConocoPhillips ceases interests in Vaca Muerta Shale Basin

2021-09-20 00:00:00

ConocoPhillips has sold its Argentine interests to Vista Oil & Gas, a local oil producer.

The local oil producer acquired 50% stake in 2 oil concessions in the Vaca Muerta field and 100% of the capital stock in ConocoPhilips Argentina. The concessions – granted by the regional government of Neuquén – expire in 2050.

Miguel Galuccio, chairman and CEO of Vista, said: “This is a unique opportunity to strengthen our position as one of the leading producers in Vaca Muerta. We are not only adding core assets to our existing portfolio, further enhancing our growth potential and shareholder value, but will also contribute our know how in efficient developments, as well as safe and sustainable operations.”

Sovereign debt: $45 billion in 23rd agreement between Argentina and IMF

2021-02-26 00:00:00

The International Monetary Fund approved a new loan program for Argentina, gaining the country more time to pay the $45 billion it owes. The agreement includes a serieus of fiscal and monetary targets that should help stabilize the economy and widen access to international financing.

The deal must be approved by Congress, but, if ratified, debt repayments will begin again and full repayment is scheduled for 2034.

Argentina plans to develop Vaca Muerta as one of the pillars of the administration's energy policy, reducing the need to import gas. But to generate both gas flow and cash flows from Vaca Muerta would require a lot of investment. the area is remote and, while existing infrastructure is suitable for some expansion in oil production, it is not suitable for the area's real asset: natural gas.

Redeployment of rigs underway at Vaca Muerta

2020-09-02 00:00:00

YPF planned the redeployment of 46 oil rigs at the basin from October 2020 to February 2021. This is being done to revive the oil and natural gas output after seeing a plunge in production due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fracking activity resumes in Vaca Muerta

2020-09-02 00:00:00

A decline was seen in fracking activities in the basin due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but things have been picking up since August 2020. The number of frack stages rose from 44 in July to 98 in August, with the number constantly increasing every month. This development is led by Shell and Vista Oil & Gas.

Financiers

Banks finance the operations in Vaca Muerta in different ways. Banks mostly finance the companies that are active within the region, either through corporate lending or through equity investments. Some banks have also provided finance to companies for specific projects in Vaca Muerta. See below for more details.

Related companies

More than 25 oil and gas companies are active in Vaca Muerta. The Argentinean energy company YPF is the main actor in the region. The company is involved in most of the projects, either alone or in joint ventures. Together they are extracting 30% of Argentina’s annual oil and 45% of the country’s annual gas production in Vaca Muerta. With more than 1,000 drilling sites, the companies are destroying the environment, poisoning the people and fueling the climate crisis.

BP United Kingdom

Chevron United States

ConocoPhillips United States

No longer active. ConocoPhillips has sold its Argentine interests to Vista Oil & Gas.

Equinor Norway

Has a 50% stake in YPF-operated Bajo del Toro in the north of Vaca Muerta.

ExxonMobil United States

Gas y Petroleo del Neuquén Argentina

Pampa Energía Argentina

Pan American Energy Argentina

Petrobas Energia Argentina

Petronas Malaysia

Pluspetrol Argentina

Shell United Kingdom show profile

Oil and Gas Extraction
Owns a 30% non-operated interest with YPF owning a 40% interest and continuing as operator.

Tecpetrol Argentina

TotalEnergies France show profile

Gas Electric Power Generation | Oil and Gas Extraction | Pipeline Transportation of Crude Oil | Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas

Vista Oil & Gas Mexico

Owns 50% of the assets

Wintershall Netherlands

Owns 50% of the assets

YPF Argentina

News

| |
Type:
Year:
blog
external news
our news

Chevron granted shale exploration concession in Argentina's Vaca Muerta

The Argentine province of Neuquen granted U.S. oil company Chevron a new concession for shale exploitation in the Vaca Muerta formation, with a pilot stage investment of $78.7 million, the local government said in a statement on Monday
2022-04-10 | Reuters
blog
external news
our news

Distressed Argentina Oil Firm Leads Emerging-Market Bonds

Only 14 months ago Argentina's YPF SA was a nightmare for investors caught out by a $6 billion distressed debt restructuring. Now, in a swift turnaround, the 100-year-old state-run oil company is producing the best fixed-income returns in all of emerging markets
2022-03-31 | Bloomberg Quint
blog
external news
our news

Vaca Muerta: a failed opportunity that will cost Argentina US$5 billion this year alone

When trying to explain why we fail as a country, look no further than the Vaca Muerta debacle
2022-03-16 | Buenos Aires Times
blog
external news
our news

Backed by Government, Argentina E&Ps Upping Natural Gas Production

Amid soaring prices for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a tight global energy market, Argentina’s efforts to increase natural gas output appear to be paying off
2022-03-15 | Natural Gas Intelligence
blog
external news
our news

Argentina's YPF sees fourth-quarter profit dip by more than half

Argentine state oil company YPF on Thursday posted a $247 million net profit in the fourth quarter 2021, a 54% drop compared to the year-ago period
2022-03-03 | Reuters
blog
external news
our news

Argentina launches Vaca Muerta pipeline megaproject tender

Argentina state energy company IEASA launched a tendering process for the acquisition of 656km of pipes for the Vaca Muerta natural gas pipeline megaproject
2022-02-23 | Bnamericas
blog
external news
our news

Banks called upon to take action to protect biodiversity ahead of UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming

Civil society organizations urge banks to adopt stringent “No Go” policy for biodiversity rich areas
2021-05-26 | Nijmegen | BankTrack
blog
external news
our news

Argentina's Vaca Muerta fracking activity rises to record high in March 2021

2021-04-05 | S&P Global
blog
external news
our news

Banking on Climate Chaos 2021: World’s 60 largest banks have poured USD 3.8 trillion into fossil fuels since Paris Agreement

Even amidst the global economic downturn, fossil fuel financing numbers were higher in 2020 than 2016
2021-03-24 | Nijmegen | BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club
blog
external news
our news

Five years lost - How the finance industry is blowing the Paris carbon budget

2020-12-10 | Paris | urgewald, Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), Friends of the Earth US, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance, ReCommon
blog
external news
our news

Nación le baja el pulgar al gasoducto de Vaca Muerta

Article in Spanish: Vaca Muerta's gas pipeline has been suspended indefinitely
2020-07-11 | Rio Negro
blog
external news
our news

Argentina's fracking activity in Vaca Muerta slowed to zero in April

2020-05-05 | Buenos Aires | S&P Global
blog
external news
our news

Argentina’s Failing Fracking Experiment

2020-04-29 | NACLA
blog
external news
our news

Oil crash kills Vaca Muerta’s potential as the next shale hotspot

2020-04-14 | www.worldoil.com
blog
external news
our news

Fracking’s false hope: Why fossil fuels won’t help to repay Argentina’s national debt

The development of fracking in Vaca Muerta in northern Patagonia, Argentina, is being presented as a solution to Argentina’s debt crisis by the IMF. However, increasing fossil fuel exports will require infrastructure lock-in, involving increased foreign investment and fiscal efforts by the state, which are not fully captured in the IMF’s debt sustainability analysis
2020-04-07 | Bretton Woods Project
blog
external news
our news

Banking on Climate Change – Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card 2020

New report reveals global banks funneled USD 2.7 trillion into fossil fuels Since Paris Climate Agreement, with financing on the rise each year 
2020-03-18 | Nijmegen | BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club
blog
external news
our news

Argentina's energy bust spawns 'ghost town' in prized Vaca Muerta

2020-02-19 | Reuters
blog
external news
our news

New legislation for Vaca Muerta on way, Nielsen confirms

2020-01-25 | Buenos Aires Times
blog
external news
our news

Vaca Muerta: Fracking leaves heavy footprint in Patagonia

2019-12-13 | Buenos Aires Times
blog
external news
our news

Indigenous Mapuche pay high price for Argentina's fracking dream

2019-10-14 | The Guardian
blog
external news
our news

Vaca Muerta, the new Argentinian tragedy

2019-10-05 | Cítrica News
blog
external news
our news

Argentina's government reinforces security in Vaca Muerta shale oil zone

2019-09-17 | Reuters
blog
external news
our news

Political turmoil, price freeze cast shadow on Argentina's Vaca Muerta

2019-09-16 | Reuters
blog
external news
our news

IEEFA report: Argentina’s Vaca Muerta Patagonia fracking plan is financially risky, fiscally perilous

2019-03-22 | IEEFA
blog
external news
our news

Argentina economy needs fast return to energy self-sufficiency

2018-09-24 | Financial Times

Documents

Type:
Year:
our publications
2021-03-24 00:00:00

Banking on Climate Chaos 2021

Fossil Fuel Finance Report
2021-03-24 00:00:00 | BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance & Sierra Club
ngo documents
2020-12-10 00:00:00

Five Years Lost

How Finance is Blowing the Paris Carbon Budget
2020-12-10 00:00:00 | FARN
ngo documents
2017-12-31 00:00:00

Vaca Muerta Megaproject

A fracking carbon bomb in Patagonia
2017-12-31 00:00:00 | EJES, Observatorio Petrolero Sur, Taller Ecologista
other documents
2019-03-22 00:00:00

Financial Risks Cloud Development of Argentina's Vaca Muerta Oil and Gas Reserves

2019-03-22 00:00:00 | IEEFA

Media






Links

3/18 | The photos that we do not see of Vaca Muerta

For more than your years, photographer Pablo E. Piovano has been touring Vaca Muerta, with the aim of making this situation visible. On Friday, March 18 at 7:00 p.m. at the Hunger Museum, the photo exhibition “Fracking in Vaca Muerta” will be held, accompanied by members of the South Oil Observatory.

https://opsur.org.ar/2022/03/15/18-3-las-fotos-que-no-vemos-de-vaca-muerta/

Q&A with Lucila Crexell, National Senator for the Province of Neuquén, Argentina

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/qa-sen-lucila-crexell-argentina

Maps

Patagonia: existing and planned oil pipelines, exploration and production blocks. Source: Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022.

 

Brief history

Due to economic crises, Argentina lost energy self-sufficiency and was forced to import large quantities of LNG and Bolivian gas. In order to solve the country's energy and economic issues, the government set a goal in 2011 to drastically increase the country's oil and gas output. The government nationalised the energy company YPF and put the company in charge of achieving this goal.

YPF and other Argentinean companies had been operating in the Vaca Muerta region for decades already when in 2013, an agreement between YPF and Chevron opened up the area to the global oil and gas industry. Besides Chevron, oil and gas giants such as Shell, Total and ExxonMobil now also started operations in Vaca Muerta. This development caused a significant increase in the number of extraction sites in Vaca Muerta, which also led to several disputes between companies and local communities (see: issues).

The international energy companies operating in the area mostly work in partnerships with YPF. As of March 2019, most projects were still in pilot phase. This can be attributed to the fact that the government has been unable to meets its promise to subsidise global oil and gas companies. The government will require substantial investments from foreign companies in order to be able to succeed in accelerating development in Vaca Muerta.

The developments in Vaca Muerta have been the target of protests by unions, environmentalists and indigenous groups. In September 2019, the Argentinean Ministry of Security announced that Vaca Muerta will be placed under the jurisdiction of the military police.

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