SEATTLE (Oil Monster): In a surprise development, Argentina’s unconventional oil production hit a new all-time high for September 2025. This occurred despite overall monthly production falling marginally when compared to the prior period and shale gas output plummeting to a multi-month low. It is the prolific Vaca Muerta shale that is driving Argentina’s rapidly rising oil and natural gas production. The 8.6-million-acre formation is proving to be a boon to Buenos Aires and could very well be the long-awaited silver bullet needed to fix Argentina’s economy.
Data from Argentina’s Ministry of Economy shows an average daily production of 833,874 barrels of crude oil for September 2025. This is 2% higher than August 2025 and a notable 14% greater than the same month a year earlier. This is a new average daily production record for Argentina, although total September 2025 output of 25 million barrels was 1% less than the 25.3 million barrels lifted a month prior.
Soaring shale oil production is responsible for the impressive increase in Argentina’s petroleum output with conventional petroleum production growth once again remaining flat. For September 2025, Argentina’s unconventional oil output surged a whopping 30% higher year on year to an average of 550,881 barrels per day, which is a new record high. As a result, shale oil is responsible for 66% of Argentina’s total petroleum production, which is the highest level ever recorded.
Those numbers confirm Argentina’s place as South America’s fourth-largest oil producer behind Brazil, Venezuela, and Guyana. Indeed, at the end of 2024. Argentina overtook Colombia to become the continent’s third-largest oil producer, but was displaced by Guyana after Exxon’s Yellowtail project came online in August 2025, lifting the former British colony’s production to 850,000 barrels per day. This is driving higher hydrocarbon exports, an improved balance of trade, and greater fiscal income for the federal government in Buenos Aires, thereby strengthening Argentina’s crisis-prone economy.
On a disappointing note, Argentina’s September 2025 natural gas production plummeted. Ministry of Economy data shows the country pumped 4.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas for the month, which was 6% less than a month prior and 12% lower year on year. This was primarily driven by a sharp decline in shale gas production, which for September 2025 was 3.1 billion cubic feet per day, a 7.5% decrease month on month and a 15.6% drop compared to the same period a year earlier.
The sharp decline in shale gas output was the result of wells being shuttered for regular maintenance. A lack of infrastructure, notably pipelines and storage facilities, is also weighing on hydrocarbon production in the Vaca Muerta, with fears emerging that production growth will stall because of those bottlenecks. If infrastructure shortages are overcome, Vaca Muerta’s hydrocarbon production will grow at a rapid clip, especially when the shale play’s enormous hydrocarbon potential is considered.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates the Vaca Muerta contains 16 billion barrels of recoverable shale oil and 308 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.
Courtesy: wwwbrazilenergyinsight.com
