The Vaca Muerta shale play in Argentina has been a hot spot in global oil and gas for the past few years after exploration suggested it could yield oil and gas at competitive production costs, offering Argentina the chance to emulate the U.S. shale boom. But now obstacles are beginning to emerge, slowing down the potential boom. A recent report by S&P Global Platts quoted industry insiders from the South American country as saying the play needed more independent E&Ps in addition to the supermajors to make the hoped for boom happen. “For Vaca Muerta to be truly transcendent, there have to be 10, 15, 20 companies like us,” the head of one such independent, Vista Oil & Gas, told S&P Global Platts. “If there were 10 projects like this, we could be producing 500,000 b/d for export,” Gaston Remy said, referring to Vista’s project in the play that […]