Peter Thiel reports stake in Argentine shale oil exporter Vista

Peter Thiel’s hedge fund acquired a sizeable stake in Vista Energy SAB, Argentina’s top oil exporter, increasing his ties to the South American country after recently buying a mansion in Buenos Aires.

Thiel Macro LLC reported owning almost 1.2 million shares in Vista at the end of the second quarter, then worth about US$76 million. The June 30 value of the fund’s position in Vista is second only to Amazon.com Inc and Vista is the only non-US company listed in its holdings, according to a US regulatory filing Friday.

As well as buying the home in Buenos Aires, the US tech billionaire has spent time in Argentina this year — he was even spotted at a neighborhood chess club in the capital. That’s prompting speculation about whether he has broader plans in the country.

In April, he met with President Javier Milei, a fellow libertarian who’s implementing a free-market experiment in an economy that was highly regulated for some two decades. Milei said Thiel asked about the probability that the reforms would be sustained and about wealth taxes.

A spokesman for Thiel didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Vista, founded in 2017 by Miguel Galuccio after he directed the first incursions into Argentina’s vast Vaca Muerta shale basin at a state-run company, has grown to become the country’s biggest oil exporter.

Vista produces the equivalent of about 160,000 barrels of oil and gas a day, 70 percent of which it exports. It has plans to further increase output after acquisitions this year and last as the Vaca Muerta finally starts to defy doubters by materially transforming Argentina’s economy with production surpassing 1 million barrels.

Under Milei, international capital markets have reopened to drillers and pipeline companies, driving infrastructure buildouts, including the VMOS shale oil pipeline and port, in which Vista has a stake. It will be ready next year, allowing Argentina to send far more crude to global buyers. 

US investors are taking note, with Chevron Corp increasing its presence in the Patagonian shale patch and billionaire wildcatter Harold Hamm entering the fray.