{"id":337907,"date":"2026-02-21T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/?p=337907"},"modified":"2026-02-20T16:54:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T20:54:48","slug":"argentina-expands-the-rigi-to-boost-vaca-muerta","status":"publish","type":"noticias","link":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/news\/argentina-expands-the-rigi-to-boost-vaca-muerta\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina expands the RIGI to boost Vaca Muerta"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Argentine government announced the extension of the Large Investment Incentives Regime (RIGI) to include oil and gas production projects<\/strong>, known in the industry as upstream. This is a measure long awaited by the energy sector, which will now have a favorable fiscal and exchange rate framework also for drilling in Vaca Muerta<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

Until now, the RIGI only contemplated infrastructure works such as gas or oil pipelines, leaving out exploration and production projects, but with this new extension, it is expected to facilitate the arrival of investments in excess of US$200 million<\/strong> specifically aimed at increasing the volume of unconventional hydrocarbons, with a view to their export.<\/p>\n\n

A tailor-made regime for Argentine shale<\/h2>\n\n

The announcement was made by the Energy and Mining<\/strong> Coordinator , Daniel Gonz\u00e1lez<\/strong>, Minister Luis Caputo’s right-hand man. During his presentation to representatives of the sector, Gonzalez pointed out that “it is an incentive for the additional production that is needed” and remarked that the measure has already been endorsed by the Economy. <\/p>\n\n

Since the RIGI was presented at the beginning of Javier Milei’s term, both oil companies and the governor of Neuqu\u00e9n, Rolando Figueroa, have been demanding the inclusion of the upstream sector in the RIGI. upstream<\/a><\/strong>. The incorporation finally fulfills a key request of the industry. <\/p>\n\n

Incentive in the face of falling international prices<\/h2>\n\n

The new regime also acts as a shield against an unfavorable international context. The barrel of oil<\/a><\/strong>which at the beginning of 2025 was trading at over 80 dollars, closed the year at around 60-65 dollars and is projected to fall to 55 dollars in 2026<\/strong>. This scenario reinforces the need to provide fiscal certainty and long-term stability to companies operating in Argentina. <\/p>\n\n

With this measure, the government seeks to guarantee not only investments, but also sustained production capable of supplying gas and oil pipelines. gas and oil pipelines already under construction.<\/a><\/strong> pipelines already under construction. These infrastructures will be key to export crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), one of the pillars of Milei’s economic plan to generate foreign currency. <\/p>\n\n

YPF also doubles its bet in Vaca Muerta<\/h2>\n\n

In line with official announcements, YPF confirmed that it will maintain an aggressive investment in Vaca Muerta<\/strong> even if the price of crude oil falls. The state-owned oil company will allocate 3.5 billion dollars to upstream operations<\/strong> and expects to exceed 200,000 barrels per day of shale oil in 2026. Its CEO, Horacio Mar\u00edn, assured that the company’s capital plan is prepared to withstand prices of up to US$55 per barrel. <\/p>\n\n

In addition, YPF continues with its divestment plan in non-strategic assets, such as Metrogas SA, to strengthen its presence in the productive core of Vaca Muerta. The company has already generated more than 1 billion dollars in this way. <\/p>\n\n

The extension of the regime and next step<\/h2>\n\n

Formally, the RIGI incentive regime is valid until mid 2026. However, the Executive is already analyzing the possibility of extending its duration for one more year, as allowed by the Basic Law approved by Congress in July 2024. <\/p>\n\n

With this decision, the government is sending a strong signal to the energy sector and to the markets: Argentina wants to consolidate its position as a major exporter of unconventional oil and gas, and Vaca Muerta will be the spearhead of this plan.<\/p>\n\n

Source: El Destape<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The incentive regime will now include unconventional oil and gas production projects, with tax and exchange benefits for 30 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10019,"featured_media":337861,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categoria_noticias":[13026,13036],"etiqueta_noticias":[],"class_list":["post-337907","noticias","type-noticias","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categoria_noticias-energy","categoria_noticias-oil-and-gas"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/337907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/noticias"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/337907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"categoria_noticias","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categoria_noticias?post=337907"},{"taxonomy":"etiqueta_noticias","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/etiqueta_noticias?post=337907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}