Argentina’s energy exports grew by 23.7% year-over-year in January

In January, Argentina exported energy worth 879 million dollars, representing a 23.7% year-over-year increase, driven by growing activity in the massive Vaca Muerta unconventional hydrocarbon formation.

According to official sources, crude oil, gas, and other energy products exported in the first month of the year accounted for 14.9% of Argentina’s total exports in January.

Most of the shipments consisted of crude oil, with exports amounting to 236 million dollars.

According to sources from Argentina’s Secretariat of Energy, the main destination for energy exports was Chile, with sales totaling 259 million dollars (+35.9% year-over-year), followed by the United States, with a total of 233 million dollars (+54.2% year-over-year).

Argentina’s energy imports amounted to 201 million dollars in January, reflecting a 32.5% year-over-year decline.

As a result, Argentina achieved an energy trade surplus of 678 million dollars in the first month of the year.

Last year, Argentina recorded an energy trade surplus of 5.668 billion dollars. This marked a shift from the deficit the country had been experiencing since 2011, except 2020, an anomalous year due to the effects of the pandemic.

The key driver of this trend reversal is Vaca Muerta, the world’s second-largest shale gas reserve and the fourth-largest for shale oil.

A decade after the start of operations in Vaca Muerta, production has reached record levels, allowing Argentina not only to significantly reduce its need for gas imports during the Southern Hemisphere winter but also to accumulate growing exportable hydrocarbon surpluses.

Vaca Muerta, where major oil companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total, Wintershall, Vista, Pan American Energy (PAE), Pluspetrol, and Pampa Energía operate, now accounts for 50.1% of Argentina’s gas production and 54.9% of its oil output.