Vaca Muerta Shale Having already invested $200 million in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale — the world’s second-largest shale gas deposit — supermajor ExxonMobil is now saying it may invest at least $10 billion in this play over the next 2-3 decades, Bloomberg reports . A pilot project coming up this summer will see Exxon invest $250 million, and based on that project’s success, Exxon will launch full-scale development to span the next 20-30 years for an investment that could be “well in excess of $10B,” Bloomberg quoted Exxon Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson as saying Thursday. Argentina is home to 27 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 802 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, primarily in and around multiple prolific shale basins in the central Neuquen province, including the prized Vaca Muerta shale. This shale formation is what is spurring talk that the next shale boom will […]