Can AI Reinvent Argentina’s Shale Future?

AI tools reshape Vaca Muerta by sharpening forecasts, drilling plans and daily field decisions.

12 Nov 2025

Across Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale, a digital shift is underway. Producers are feeding torrents of well data into algorithms that aim to detect problems early, refine drilling plans and forecast production with unusual steadiness. For a basin long marked by swings in performance, the appeal is clear.

Neuquén has become a modest tech hub, linking local firms with global partners. Data from many wells, including pressure readings and flow rates, now flows into learning models that guide decisions once based on instinct. Shell is a leading example. Its use of analytics has improved the building of type curves and strengthened long-term planning, giving managers a firmer sense of what each drilling pad may yield.

For an industry shaped by rough estimates, such clarity counts. Better predictions support smoother output and more disciplined spending. They also help tighten control over margins, a constant source of risk in shale. Some analysts even see Vaca Muerta becoming a regional test site for advanced energy analytics, where ideas meet hard geology and awkward logistics.

Yet the transformation is uneven. Many wells still lack standardised data, and digital infrastructure varies sharply across blocks. Algorithms remain aids, not replacements, for engineering judgment, especially in a sector where rules may shift from one year to the next. Only a small share of work today is automated, though that could rise to more than 60% by the mid-2030s.

Even so, momentum is building. Pilot projects are turning into routine practice. Firms that invest in data management, system integration and training are likely to benefit most from the next round of advances, which may include predictive maintenance, real-time drilling control and smarter fieldwide management.

If early gains hold, Argentina could emerge as Latin America’s main proving ground for intelligent energy production, a place where information, as much as hydrocarbons, drives growth.