GeoPark Files for Argentina’s RIGI to Build a Vaca Muerta Oil Hub

Argentina · Energy

Two months after spudding its first wells in Argentine shale, GeoPark is making its commitment formal. By filing for Argentina’s flagship investment regime, the Colombian-capital oil company is signaling that Vaca Muerta is no longer an experiment but the center of its regional strategy. The move turns a drilling campaign into a billion-dollar bet on legal certainty.

What did GeoPark file for in Vaca Muerta?

The Rio Times, the Latin American financial news outlet, reports that the GeoPark Vaca Muerta project took a major step as the company, together with provincial firm Gas y Petroleo del Neuquen, formally applied to join the RIGI, Argentina’s large-investment incentive regime. The plan integrates two blocks, Loma Jarillosa Este and Puesto Silva Oeste, under a single project vehicle, with more than $1 billion of planned investment.

The goal is to build a non-conventional oil hub in the Neuquen province, home to one of the world’s largest shale formations. GeoPark’s Argentina business director, Ignacio Mazariegos, said the regime is precisely the tool such large-scale investment was designed for, and reflects coordination among the national government, the province and the company.

What is the RIGI and what does it offer?

The RIGI is President Javier Milei‘s incentive regime for large investments, offering tax benefits and legal stability to projects that qualify as a “large investment” in strategic sectors. These include energy, mining, infrastructure, technology, forestry, tourism and steel, along with oil and gas activities.

For GeoPark, the appeal is predictability. Entering the regime would lock in tax incentives and legal stability over the project’s life, the kind of certainty needed to justify heavy upfront spending in a country with a long history of policy swings. It is the same framework that has drawn billions in filings from larger players across Vaca Muerta.

How big is the production target?

Ambitious by any measure. GeoPark aims to lift output from about 1,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day today to between 5,000 and 6,000 by the end of 2026, and to 20,000 within three years, a more than tenfold increase. The plan relies on factory-mode horizontal drilling across the two integrated blocks.

If achieved, the scale-up would reshape GeoPark’s footprint. Argentina would become the company’s largest producing country, surpassing Colombia, and would anchor its ambition to be the region’s biggest private oil producer. The targets match those it set when drilling began in March, now backed by the formal RIGI request.

How does this build on the March drilling start?

It is the financial follow-through. In March, GeoPark began its first drilling campaign at Loma Jarillosa Este as part of an $80 million to $100 million investment plan for 2026, marking its operational entry into one of the region’s main shale developments. The company had acquired full operated stakes in the two blocks from Pluspetrol in late 2025.

The RIGI filing now gives that campaign scale and predictability. GeoPark described the step as a new milestone in the accelerated, efficient development of its Vaca Muerta blocks, reaffirming a long-term bet on Argentine energy. The pairing of provincial firm GyP also strengthens the project’s local standing.

What should investors and analysts watch next?

• RIGI approval: the filing still needs the economy ministry’s sign-off before the incentives take effect.
• The 2026 output target: hitting 5,000 to 6,000 boepd by year-end is the near-term test of execution.
• Capital discipline: whether GeoPark funds the $1 billion plan without straining its balance sheet matters for the NYSE-listed name.
• The Colombia-to-Argentina shift: the pace at which Argentina overtakes Colombia in GeoPark’s portfolio signals the strategy’s success.
• Vaca Muerta competition: how GeoPark’s hub fits among far larger RIGI filings shapes its standing in the basin.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the GeoPark Vaca Muerta project?

It is a more than $1 billion plan to build a non-conventional oil hub in Argentina’s Neuquen province, covering the Loma Jarillosa Este and Puesto Silva Oeste blocks. GeoPark and provincial firm Gas y Petroleo del Neuquen filed to join the RIGI incentive regime to develop it.

What is Argentina’s RIGI?

The RIGI is President Milei’s regime offering tax incentives and legal stability to large-scale investments in strategic sectors such as energy, mining and infrastructure. It is designed to give long-term predictability to projects that need heavy upfront capital in a historically volatile economy.

How much will GeoPark produce?

GeoPark aims to scale from about 1,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day to between 5,000 and 6,000 by the end of 2026, and to 20,000 within three years. The tenfold increase would make Argentina its largest producing country, ahead of Colombia.

Who controls GeoPark?

GeoPark is a Colombian-capital oil and gas company controlled by the Gilinski group and listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2014. With more than two decades in Latin America, it is one of Colombia’s main players in the sector and is pushing to lead the region in private oil production.

When did GeoPark start drilling in Vaca Muerta?

GeoPark began its first drilling campaign at Loma Jarillosa Este in March 2026, as part of an $80 million to $100 million investment plan for the year. It had acquired full operated stakes in the two blocks from Pluspetrol in late 2025, marking its operational entry into Argentine shale.

Connected Coverage

The drilling campaign this filing builds on is detailed in our reporting on how GeoPark spudded its first Vaca Muerta wells in March, and the deal that funded it in our piece on Gilinski’s stake in GeoPark. The regime’s wider pull is covered in our analysis of Milei’s Super RIGI and the Vaca Muerta investment wave.

Sources

Reported by Sofia Gabriela Martinez for The Rio Times — Latin American financial news. Filed May 20, 2026 — 18:00 BRT.