The head of Argentina’s second largest shale oil producer has said he does not expect politics to derail investment in the Vaca Muerta basin. No matter which candidate wins the next presidential election, Argentina will continue to need the revenue that development work in the shale formation can generate, said Miguel Galuccio, the CEO and chairman of Vista Oil & Gas.
Voters in Argentina are due to go to the polls on October 27. They will choose between Mauricio Macri, the incumbent president who favors market-based policies, and Alberto Fernandez, who leans left and is more wary of foreign investors.
Macri is widely expected to lose the election, largely because voters disapprove of his handling of inflation and other economic woes that have dogged Argentina in recent months. The president made an attempt to soothe consumers by freezing motor fuel prices in mid-August, but his political fortunes have not improved.
Some observers have speculated that the price freeze might stymie development projects in the Vaca Muerta formation, but Galuccio disagreed. “The path forward is to normalize local crude oil prices towards import parity, and second to make the opportunity of becoming a net oil exporter a reality,” he told S&P Global Platts this week.