U.S. Billionaires Are Piling Into Argentina’s Vaca Muerta Shale

U. S. Billionaires Are Piling Into Argentina’s Vaca Muerta Shale U.

S. Billionaires Are Piling Into Argentina’s Vaca Muerta Shale · Oilprice. com Charles Kennedy Fri, August 21, 2026 at 6:40 PM GMT+2 2 min read PNRG.

CN U. S. shale billionaire Harold Hamm is making a multibillion-dollar bet on Argentina's Vaca Muerta, becoming the latest high-profile American investor to target the rapidly expanding shale basin.

Hamm's Continental Resources has agreed to acquire a 50% interest in Phoenix Global Resources, creating an equal joint venture with commodities giant Mercuria Energy Group. The partners plan to invest more than $4 billion over five years and increase Phoenix's production from more than 28,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to over 100,000 boed. The combined portfolio will encompass approximately 163,000 net acres across six Vaca Muerta blocks.

The proposed transaction remains subject to definitive agreements, closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Continental is no stranger to the formation. The company entered Argentina last year by acquiring assets from Pluspetrol and subsequently bought interests in blocks operated by Pan American Energy.

CEO Doug Lawler credited President Javier Milei's economic reforms with helping create the conditions for Continental's latest investment. Hamm isn't the only American billionaire taking an interest. Earlier this month, Palantir chairman Peter Thiel acquired a roughly 1% stake worth about $76 million in Vista Energy, one of Vaca Muerta's leading shale producers, according to an Oilprice.

com report. The influx comes as Vaca Muerta emerges as one of the world's fastest-growing oil regions. Argentina recently revised its estimate of technically recoverable oil resources in the formation to 30.

17 billion barrels, 89% above the previous 2013 estimate. For Hamm, the opportunity is particularly familiar. Continental helped pioneer horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in U.

S. shale, and the company now intends to apply that expertise to Argentina. The latest deal also highlights growing foreign confidence in Milei's effort to deregulate Argentina's economy and attract large-scale investment.

Chevron and other international producers are similarly expanding their exposure. With Hamm committing billions and Thiel putting his own money into one of the basin's leading producers, Vaca Muerta is increasingly attracting the attention—and capital—of some of America's most prominent investors. Oilprice Intelligence brings you the signals before they become front-page news.

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