Ricardo Markous, CEO of Tecpetrol, warns that the speed of plans in Vaca Muerta depends on the price of crude oil and that a downward trend is expected in 2026.
12/11/2025 – 11:25 a.m
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The speed at which Vaca Muerta production plans can be developed and new milestones achieved will be due to the international price of crude oilthis is the main warning from Ricardo MarkousCEO of Tecpetrol, analyzing training forecasts during the ProPymes 2025 seminar.
Markous pointed this out while attending the Techint Group business ecosystem meeting The sector needs to increase its global competitiveness to maintain the required level of investmentsince the financing of the projects is tied to the sale of oil on the external market.
The managing director was categorical when describing the current price situation: “Oil costs an average of $62, and the scenario appears to be more complex. Some even say that oil prices could fall even more.” The central message was therefore caution: “Producers and industry must work hard to be competitive.”
This need for competitiveness is due to the fact that the most ambitious goals depend directly on the value of the barrel. The CEO explained this Productive growth responds to “maximum scenarios that depend on the price of oil.”crucial because we have to finance ourselves with this sale and if the price falls, growth will be a little slower.”
Growth plans
With this clarification, Markous called on suppliers to do so Focus on innovation to maintain forecast ramp-up that the industry needs to reach one million barrels of oil by the end of 2026 or 2027 and one and a half million barrels by the end of the decade.
While the industry also debates the need to cut costs, Tecpetrol is moving forward with one of the largest projects in the basin. The company is focused on its $2.5 billion investment to develop Los Toldos II Este, its major bet in unconventional oil production.
This development is crucial for the desired corporate goal reach 100,000 barrels per day by 2027. To achieve this, the investment includes not only the processing plant, but also the logistical infrastructure work necessary to accelerate production, such as: B. Water pipes, an additional gas pipeline and the doubling of crude oil transport capacity in the north of Oldelval.
Another factor that could limit the speed of development is the Logistics bottleneck. Markous mentioned that “The logistics in the arena are a complication“, as the growth forecast is 8 million tons per year. This enormous amount of broken material has to be transported mainly by trucks, which is presented as “a problem” that needs to be solved through new infrastructure options.
SMEs in the projection of Vaca Muerta
Without the local industrial base, promoting the industry would not be possible. The CEO of Tecpetrol highlighted the role of small and medium-sized companies that accompany these projectswith the company deeming the Propymes network “essential” as it seeks to work directly with these local suppliers.
Despite the warnings, production forecasts are historic. Markous explained that The sector expects to end 2025 at an average of 800,000 barrels per dayexceeding the production record that Argentina had had since the late 1990s.
This growth has already had an impact on the macroeconomy: the energy trade balance went from a deficit of u$6 billion in 2014 a projected surplus of u$6 billion euros by 2025a figure that has been revised downwards by the price of oil.
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