Harold Hamm Bets Bigger on Argentina’s Vaca Muerta Shale Boom

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Aug 03, 2026

Continental Resources, the company founded by shale billionaire Harold Hamm, looks to expand in Vaca Muerta as international companies vie to develop Argentina’s proven prolific shale patch.

Continental is set to bid in this year’s bid round for acreage in Vaca Muerta in the biggest auction in the basin in a decade, sources with knowledge of the plans have told Bloomberg.

Bids will be opened on August 19. The province of Neuquén, where most of Vaca Muerta is located, has launched the biggest licensing round in the shale play in a decade, offering 15 blocks up for grabs—more than double the number of blocks in the previous auction.

Interest in Vaca Muerta has increased in recent years as Argentina under Javier Milei has introduced tax cuts and other benefits for investors in the shale patch, where oil and gas production has been growing steadily for two years.

Vaca Muerta is top of the list of oil and gas companies, including U.S. shale giants, as a de-risked basin with proven geology that’s far away from having to rely on the Strait of Hormuz or any other corridor in the Middle East to ship barrels out.

Continental Resources has had a footprint in Argentina, which the U.S. firm began to increase early this year.

In January 2026, Continental doubled down on its shale expansion outside the U.S. with an acquisition of stakes in four Vaca Muerta blocks.

“Vaca Muerta is one of the most compelling shale plays in the world, and we're thrilled to continue to invest in Argentina and build Continental's position through this agreement with Pan American Energy,” Continental Resources president and CEO Doug Lawler said at the time.

“We take a long-term view of resource development, regardless of geography. As I like to say, 'The rock doesn't know what country it's in.'”

Continental is now looking to expand its Vaca Muerta exposure in the licensing round ending this month.

Amid the global oil supply shock this year, Vaca Muerta tops the shortlist of regions where the next generation of reliable barrels will come from, analysts at Rystad Energy said earlier this year.

The Argentinian shale play is already outperforming U.S. plays such as the Permian, Bakken, and Eagle Ford on well productivity measures, Rystad Energy reckons, and expects crude production from Vaca Muerta to top 1 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the decade.

After a slow start earlier this decade, Vaca Muerta is now booming. The latest production figures showed that crude oil output hit an all-time high of 887,227 bpd in May, up by 19% from a year earlier.

“Argentina is offering international companies their best organic entry point into Vaca Muerta in a decade,” Jai Singh, Head of US Oil & Gas Research at Rystad Energy, said, referring to the bid round of 2026.

“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.”

According to Singh, “This bid round is the moment that the world’s most important non-US shale play formally invites the world in.”

Vaca Muerta has already made Argentina the fourth-largest oil producer in Latin America—a position that may improve 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.

Plans for infrastructure include the Vaca Muerta Oil Sur (VMOS) pipeline set to carry over 180,000 bpd of crude in Phase I and up to 550,000 bpd once Phase II is completed.

In addition, Argentina’s state firm YPF, Italy’s Eni, and the United Arab Emirates’ XRG are putting in place plans for the integrated upstream-midstream project, Argentina LNG, to produce, export, and market Vaca Muerta’s gas resources.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com