Peter Thiel Bets $76 Million on Argentina’s Vaca Muerta Shale

Palantir chairman and hedge fund owner Peter Thiel bought a 1% stake in one of the biggest companies operating in the Vaca Muerta shale formation in Argentina in the latest evidence of the play’s prospects as the world’s second-largest shale oil and gas deposit amid a global crunch.Thiel bought the stake in Vista in the form of American depositary shares worth $76 million, according to a security filing cited by Reuters. The purchase came four months after a meeting between the venture capitalist and Argentina’s president, Javier Milei. At the meeting, per Milei, the two discussed economic policies and the Argentinian president’s opposition to wealth taxes.The Argentinian president is also eyeing data centers as a source of government revenue, exploiting the vast – and flat – open spaces available in Patagonia, which also has a cool climate, reducing potential data center operators’ cooling demand. Readily available oil and gas, especially the latter, would be essential for attracting data center investors to the chronically sick economy of Argentina.Vista produces some 160,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily in the Vaca Muerta play, with its investments in the formation at over $6.5 billion to date, with plans to invest more—and it is not the only one. Big Oil supermajors have built a presence in the play as well, positioning themselves to be at the center of yet another oil boom. That boom is yet to help prop up the broader economy of the country, but it is happening, and some observers believe it will eventually start benefiting the economy.After a slow start earlier this decade, oil and gas production in the Vaca Muerta is now booming. The latest production figures showed that crude oil output hit an all-time high of 887,227 barrels per day in May, up by 19% from a year earlier. Natural gas output also rose to 5.5 billion cubic feet per day, which was just shy of the record 5.7 billion cubic feet daily reported for July 2025. Natural gas production rose by 5.4% in May 2026 from April and 11% from a year earlier. Thanks to Vaca Muerta, Argentina has overtaken Colombia to become the fourth-largest oil producer in Latin America—a position that may move higher in the future as the government prioritizes the development of the local energy industry, encouraging infrastructure projects aiming to boost the offtake capacity of the Vaca Muerta.The energy crunch caused by the war between the United States and Israel and Iran, has only served to highlight Argentina’s and Vaca Muerta’s potential as a major source of oil and gas. Thanks to billions in investments from the local state major YPF and Big Oil companies, analysts expect oil production at the formation to reach between 1 million barrels daily and 1.5 million barrels daily by 2030. Already, oil and gas from the Vaca Muerta make up the bulk of Argentina’s total oil and gas production. Shale oil accounts for 70.6% of the total and shale gas represents 69.8% of the country’s total gas production.“Argentina is offering international companies their best organic entry point into Vaca Muerta in a decade. The basin is maturing fast, infrastructure is being built at pace, and the bid terms are designed to attract operators who can bring North American shale expertise to bear. For anyone who missed the first wave, this is the knock on the door they have been waiting for,” Rystad Energy’s head of oil and gas research, Jai Singh, said earlier this year. The consultancy expects oil production in the Vaca Muerta play alone could top 1 million barrels daily by the end of the current decade.By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.comMore Top Reads From Oilprice.comIraq-Syria Oil Pipeline to Bypass Hormuz Is 4 Years and $15 Billion AwayChina's Renewables Boom Faces Record Clean Power CurtailmentsHow Gulf Oil Is Escaping the Strait of Hormuz