Debt Ghosts Rattle Argentina's Push for Shale Greatness
- At current yields ‘it’s very difficult to justify any project’
- Government’s shale investment growth targets are in jeopardy
Vaca Muerta
Photographer: Martin Barzilai/HAYTHAM/REA via ReduxThis article is for subscribers only.
To replicate the kind of shale boom taking place in America’s Permian Basin, Argentina first needs to convince investors it can avoid another financial crisis.
Production is creeping up in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta formation, where about 1,000 wells have been drilled since development started more than six years ago. But fears the government is losing the battle to contain inflation and return to economic normalcy are pushing up bond yields to the highest since the country was last in default.