Productive activity in the Vaca Muerta formation reached 1,331 fractures in October, which implied a drop of 4.7% compared to the record reached in September, when 1,398 stages were completed.
This is clear from the report carried out by Luciano Fucello, country manager at NCS Multistage, which highlights that at this point in the year YPF has already exceeded the level of activity reached in 2022. In the first 10 months, it reached a total of 5,967 stages , record value for the majority state oil company in Vaca Muerta.
According to the report, in October 1,331 stages were completed to put new wells into production. They were developed by eight companies, among which YPF explained 582 fractures, which is equivalent to 56% of the total.
The contribution of the rest of the operators in the formation was divided between Shell (211 stages), Pluspetrol (163), Vista (136), Pan American Energy (119), Tecpetrol (99), Pampa Energía (16), and Phoenix ( 5).
Although there was a decrease in October, the comparison with September is with a month where there was a record for fractures, and the monthly data is in line with that of the rest of the months of the year. Despite the electoral uncertainty, companies always state that they are productions that are carried out looking at “the medium and long term.” A good moment of activity is explained by oil, due to the incentive of high international prices, and the greater transportation infrastructure, with the Oleoductos del Valle (Oldelval) network. In any case, the 1,400 monthly stages that the sector estimated for 2023 are not exceeded.
Regarding the work of service companies during October, Halliburton led the hydraulic fracturing market, with 631 stages, followed by SLB (319), Weatherford (163), Calfrac (119) and Tenaris (99). In Argentina, the thermometer of the activity of unconventional fields and the commercial metric is given in terms of fracture stages, and not in the number of wells or active drilling equipment, as is usually the case in the case of conventional fields.
Source: Ambito
