Vaca Muerta “an elephant” compared to Eagle Ford

We notice with great interest the blog of Aleszu Bazak reporting on a recent shale gas conference in Neuquén City – the full post is here

The key highlights as far as we’re concerned are:

• “Vaca Muerta is going to be an elephant compared to Eagle Ford,”
• “a lack of equipment, not financing, was holding back production”
• a major issue is “the lack of water in the region, a crucial ingredient for the fracking necessary to extract oil and gas from Vaca Muerta’s shale reserves”
• “As for solving the water problem, De Dicco and Bernal propose constructing an aqueduct and a desalinization plant, and utilize seawater from the Argentine coast, 250 miles away.”

For this reason we’re excited about hearing from a company with significant Eagle Ford experience, Pioneer, at the Shale Gas Argentina conference in late October.

Gervasio Barzola, VP Subsurface & Development, Pioneer Natural Resources will discuss:

Eagle Ford of South Texas – a steep learning curve

• 6 years into exploration, appraisal and development of a prime shale play, what we learned?
• Key Data and Play Maps
• The subsurface tool-kits, exploration/appraisal phase versus full development mode
• What techniques/tools added substantial value, which didn’t

The last point in which techniques and tools really added value and which didn’t will, I suspect, be particularly interesting.