Foreign leaders line up to see Argentina鈥檚 鈥楧ead Cow鈥�
Many Argentines are optimistic the Vaca Muerta (Dead Cow) oil and gas fields can transform their nation鈥檚 fortunes overnight. Interest from Russian and Chinese leaders is helping fuel that hope.
Many Argentines are optimistic the Vaca Muerta (Dead Cow) oil and gas fields can transform their nation鈥檚 fortunes overnight. Interest from Russian and Chinese leaders is helping fuel that hope.
Russian and Chinese leaders are beating a path to Argentina鈥檚 door. But amid talk of strengthening political ties and boosting investment and trade, there鈥檚 really only one thing they care about.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e dipping their toes in here to see what鈥檚 going on with Vaca Muerta,鈥� says our correspondent in Buenos Aires. "The rest is fluff.鈥�
Argentina鈥檚 most prized possession, Vaca Muerta (鈥淒ead Cow鈥�), holds an estimated 16 billion barrels of shale oil and 308 trillion cubic feet of shale gas. That would give Argentina the world鈥檚 fourth-largest reserves of shale oil and second-largest of shale gas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin stopped short of making any statements on Vaca Muerta during his visit to Buenos Aires over the weekend, focusing instead on the signing of a new nuclear energy agreement and announcing聽that Russian atomic energy corporation Rosatom would help聽construct Argentina鈥檚 Atucha III nuclear power plant. However,聽his counterpart Cristina Fern谩ndez de Kirchner聽took special note聽that members of Mr. Putin鈥檚 delegation would be visiting Vaca Muerta.
鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about Russia 鈥撀爋ne of聽the world鈥檚 top producers of聽gas and聽oil in聽the world,鈥� President Kirchner聽said. 鈥淏ut we Argentines also have our own and聽it seems like others have noticed.鈥�
China has also noticed. The state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. in 2010 acquired a 50 percent stake in Argentine energy company Bridas Corp., a deal widely seen as enabling CNOOC to invest in the Vaca Muerta. President Xi Jinping is visiting Argentina later this week following a summit for the group of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and a forum on China-Latin America ties.
Many Argentines are optimistic about the potential for Vaca Muerta to transform their nation鈥檚 fortunes almost overnight. Argentine economist and columnist Jorge Castro聽wrote in local newspaper Clarin聽over the weekend that Vaca Muerta will become the center of gravity of the global oil and gas business over the next decade. The development will reverse the 鈥渋rrelevance syndrome鈥� that has plagued Argentina in the last 20 years, he wrote.
Argentina is increasingly desperate to develop Vaca Muerta, but it needs聽help.... For the rest of the story, continue reading at our new business publication聽Monitor Global Outlook.