Los Toldos II Este was approved by the RIGI and aims to reach a production of 70,000 barrels of oil per day, with the creation of 7,900 jobs and the participation of up to 800 companies
In what represents an undeniable triumph of the deregulation program and economic confidence led by President Javier Milei, the Evaluation Committee officially approved the entry of the project Los Toldos II Este by the company Tecpetrol into the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI).
This development is formally established as the largest private oil project approved under this new regulation in the impressive Vaca Muerta formation. With a total projected investment of USD 6.4 billion over its long-term plan, the private sector reaffirms its strong support for the pro-market reforms of the current administration.
Tecpetrol
The socioeconomic impact of this milestone is massive and shatters the narratives of interventionist skepticism. The launch of the initiative is expected to create an estimated 7,900 total jobs, broken down significantly into 3,100 direct jobs during its most intense assembly phases and 4,800 indirect jobs.
Furthermore, the productive reactivation will immediately boost the activity of between 700 and 800 supplier companies and national SMEs, consolidating a strategic logistics hub in the north of the Neuquén Basin, near Rincón de los Sauces.
As enthusiastically celebrated by the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, through his official account on the social network X: "New RIGI approved", highlighting that this bold incentive regulation "will not only accelerate the pace of development but will also allow for an approximately 40% increase in the resources to be developed in the area".
On the operational front, the project represents the strategic leap of Tecpetrol to double its relevance in the crude segment (shale oil), replicating the successful model of massive development that it previously applied to gas in the emblematic Fortín de Piedra field.
Luis Caputo on X:
The goal is to reach a production of 70,000 barrels of oil per day. According to the company's official schedule, an initial production of 35,000 barrels per day is expected to be achieved by the end of the first quarter of 2027, ultimately reaching the design peak of 70,000 barrels per day by July 2027, a colossal figure that represents approximately 10% of Argentina's total oil production.
This quantitative leap is only possible thanks to the RIGI, under which the estimated recoverable resource volume in the block increased by 40% by making profitable high-performance wells and technologies feasible.
To achieve this ambitious technical goal, Techint Engineering and Construction is deploying simultaneous large-scale works under a "factory mode" dynamic in a greenfield development.
Milei and Caputo
The infrastructure under construction includes a Central Processing Facility (CPF) for the separation and conditioning of crude oil and gas, along with three key trunk pipelines: a water pipeline (in its final construction phase to supply fracturing water), a gas pipeline, and an export oil pipeline designed to safely evacuate production to the national trunk systems.
To sustain this enormous drilling pace, the company has already doubled its active fleet in the block, increasing from two to four state-of-the-art drilling rigs and boosting its fracturing sets to 15 units. The field is operated in partnership with the state-owned Neuquén company GyP, under a corporate scheme where Tecpetrol holds 90% of the stake and GyP the remaining 10%.
