Oil billionaire Hamm seeks to expand in Argentina’s shale patch

US shale pioneer Harold Hamm is moving to expand his footprint in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta oil basin, home to the world’s fastest-growing shale boom, according to people familiar with the matter.

Hamm’s Continental Resources Inc is set to compete for shale blocks in an auction managed by Neuquén Province where the lion’s share of Vaca Muerta acreage is located, said the people, who declined to be named discussing private deliberations. Bids for 15 blocks in Neuquén will be opened on August 19. 

Continental declined to comment. The Neuquén provincial administration didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Argentine government officials and oil executives have been pitching the Vaca Muerta in Houston as they try to lure US shale producers and service companies to Patagonia as an alternative to the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, where some of the best drilling acreage is running out.

Fifteen years after the resources were proven viable, the Vaca Muerta is growing quickly under President Javier Milei’s free-market reforms that have attracted investments and financing after years of controls stifled build-outs.

The basin already produces more than one million barrels a day of oil and gas. A key export pipeline and port called VMOS will be ready next year, allowing producers to ramp up crude production. Plans for liquefied natural gas shipments are also taking shape.

Last year Continental became the first US shale independent to dip its feet into Argentina via a deal to acquire assets from local driller Pluspetrol SA. It did a second transaction in January to buy stakes in blocks operated by Pan American Energy Group, which is half-owned by BP Plc.

Another US producer betting on Argentina is supermajor Chevron Corp, which recently decided to develop more acreage in the Vaca Muerta thanks to a Milei initiative that provides tax cuts and other benefits. Argentine officials still need to approve Chevron’s application.