While the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020’s oil price collapse hit Argentina’s hydrocarbon sector hard, leading to some analysts to claim that it may never fully recover , there is evidence of a healthy rebound is underway. This is especially positive news for the national government in Buenos Aires which for nearly a decade has pinned its hopes on fueling an economic revival by exploiting the massive hydrocarbon wealth of the Vaca Muerta shale play. The massive shale play, located in the oil-rich Neuquén province, is thought to hold recoverable hydrocarbon resources consisting of 16 billion barrels of oil and 308 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Those numbers make the Vaca Muerta the world’s second-largest shale gas deposit. The shale formation is often compared to the prolific U.S. Eagle Ford shale, although unlike the U.S: shale play the Vaca Muerta’s dry gas window has proven to be commercially viable. […]