Halliburton wins multi-billion-dollar YPF fracking contract in Argentina

Halliburton Co said it won an exclusive, multibillion-dollar contract from Argentina’s state-run oil company YPF to provide bundled fracking services in the Vaca Muerta shale patch.

The deal is a multi-year collaboration, in which Halliburton will deploy its Zeus electric-powered fracturing technology internationally for the first time, the company said in a statement Monday.

The contract expands the company’s presence in one of the world’s largest shale oil and gas formations, and signals a broader shift as US hydraulic fracturing technology gains traction in overseas markets. 

The build up of infrastructure in Vaca Muerta, spanning roughly 11.6 thousand square miles (30,000 square kilometres) in Patagonia, will largely have to occur with money from abroad, Wall Street bankers have said.

Output from Vaca Muerta stands at about 600,000 barrels of oil per day, with a targeted production of more than one million barrels per day by 2030.

Using the latest technology should make so-called well completion work – the final and most costly stage in oilfield development  – more efficient in Vaca Muerta. During this phase, specialised crews pump high-pressure jets of water and other substances underground, helping oil and gas to flow more easily to the surface.