Pluspetrol - Bajo del Choique / La Invernada
Development of the asset Pluspetrol bought from ExxonMobil. Peak of 100,000 bbl/d + 12 MMm3/d, +600 wells. Includes GyP's mandatory 10% carry.
The projectwhat it is, the route, the owners, the works and the contractors
Who owns it
Pluspetrol 90% / GyP (Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén) 10% verif Apr 23, 2026 ↗
The works, milestone by milestone
The operator's country manager says the block's first modular plant is about to be finished: «In the next thirty days we will finish EPF 1, which will add another 25,000 barrels of treatment capacity», within a modular approach «with 25,000-barrel plants to scale alongside the drilling plan».
Pluspetrol and Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén file their RIGI enrolment application: USD 12 billion, four processing plants, more than 600 wells and a declared peak of 100,000 barrels a day and 12 million cubic metres of gas a day, over 25 years in two stages.
Public environmental hearing for the project at the Kacike hall in Rincón de los Sauces, at 12:30, under article 31 of provincial Ley 1875, with the applicant identified as Pluspetrol Cuenca Neuquina SRL. The observations were added to the file for technical assessment.
Neuquén's Official Gazette publishes the notice calling the environmental public hearing: it «will be held on March 31, 2026 at 12:30, at Salón de Eventos Kacike, on the corner of República Argentina and Juan José Castelli in the town of Rincón de los Sauces». The file is EX-2026-00234438- -NEU-SARN#MTUR and the Register of Speakers closes 5 business days before the event.
The «Desarrollo de Bajo del Choique» global environmental impact study is signed, prepared by Geólogos Asociados S.A. It is the document that measures the works: 150 unconventional wells on 29 pads across 25 locations, 50 sites, two treatment plants, 215,516 metres of pipelines in 129 segments and 61,710 metres of roads.
The Bajo del Choique Nordeste pipeline is completed: 42-43 km of 12-inch line for 60,000 barrels a day, API 5L standard, with fibre optics and two valve stations. It was built by Víctor Contreras S.A. and links the block's treatment plant with the Oldelval terminal at Auca Mahuida.
Pluspetrol and Weatherford agree the transfer of the fracturing services division: «the fracturing set and the main assets tied to its operation, the associated operating bases, and the workforce». Out of that comes SPI (Servicios Petroleros Integrados), which takes over the group's fracturing stages.
Decreto 1512/2024 approves the agreement between Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén and ExxonMobil Exploration Argentina over the change of control of the area, with a payment to the Province of «ONE HUNDRED MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS (USD 100,000,000)» for the contractual readjustment, and exempts that agreement from stamp duty.
The Province grants, through Decreto 2444/15, the unconventional exploitation concession over the unified Bajo del Choique – La Invernada area, covering «four hundred point twenty-seven square kilometres (400.27 KM2)».
Who already has a contract
Works tendered in November 2023, 20% complete by June 2024 and finished on 27 March 2025. ⛔ The awarded contract amount is not published: the USD 75 M figure in circulation is the project announcement.
Operating since May 2025 and running its parent company's stages exclusively. ⭐ For a fracturing supplier this block is NOT an open market: the operator integrated vertically and none of the large service companies appear in its stages. ⚠️ The flip side, and this is the useful part: art. 49 of the RIGI implementing decree excludes related companies from the local-supplier count, so that spending does not count towards the quota and leaves more room in the other categories.
Author of the January 2026 global environmental impact study that the Environment Secretariat publishes on its site: 312 pages signed from Maestro T. Alderete 336, Neuquén. Its lead professional is registered in the provincial register of environmental service providers under RePPSA No. 015/25 (RESOL-2025-722-E-NEU-SAMB#MERN). ⛔ No amount published.
How to supply itwhere to register, what they ask for and what they will buy
How to become a supplier
The operator buys through a portal (Ariba / SAP), with the decision centralised in the company. ⚠️ Two large categories are closed in advance and knowing it saves the trip: fracturing is done by a subsidiary of the group itself, and the record-setting directional drilling is run by international service companies already established there.
The registration routes that exist today, with their status. The one that is up and running is not always the official one.
Pluspetrol supplier portal (Ariba / SAP)
up and running todayIt is the channel through which the operator registers suppliers and buys.
Go to the single windowabrirWhat they ask you for
For the special-waste category there are two different registrations and they are NOT the same: the provincial registry has a GENERATOR category — which belongs to the operator — and separate carrier and operator categories, which are the supplier's, with a different form. unconf Feb 2026The requirements document circulating as «the barrier to entry» is titled «REQUIREMENTS FOR REGISTRATION IN THE RePGTyORE AS A SPECIAL WASTE GENERATOR», and the generator is the operator, not the supplier.
To sign any environmental study or report for the project: registration in Neuquén's provincial register of environmental service providers (RePPSA) verif Jan 22, 2026 ↗The project's environmental study is signed by a consultancy whose lead professional holds their own RePPSA number —No. 015/25, granted by RESOL-2025-722-E-NEU-SAMB#MERN of the Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat—, and the document also carries the endorsement of Neuquén's professional environmental association. Without that registration you cannot sign.
The order you get in by
First work out what you are selling, because on this block two doors are closed in advance: fracturing is done by SPI, which belongs to the operator's own group, and the record-setting directional drilling is carried out by international service companies already established here. before any paperwork
Get certified as a Neuquén Supplier (Ley 3338) with Centro PyME-ADENEU: that is what opens the 60 % floor by category and, on top of it, access to the twice-yearly purchasing plan that the bound parties show only to certified suppliers. the score is calculated on the average of three years of turnover tax returns
Register on the operator's supplier portal, which is the channel through which it registers and buys. not published
If your line is environmental —studies, reports, monitoring—, register with the RePPSA; if it is special waste, with the RePGTyORE, and under the right capacity, which for a supplier is carrier or operator, not generator. not published
⭐ And for camp services, catering, effluents, security or site-office logistics: the buyer is not only the operator. The environmental study states that within the camp compound «areas will be assigned to each contractor for the installation of their site offices», so each large contractor buys its own site-office services. when work on the camp (BIN D) begins
What it will buy, and when
The development carries a compulsory 10% carry for Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén: the province captures rent through a route the federal regime does not stabilise, and for a supplier that means there is a provincial partner inside the operation, with a say over purchasing and local contracting.
More than 600 wells for a peak of 100,000 bbl/d and 12 MMm³/d: the drilling pace —and with it demand for sand, water, equipment and logistics— moves with the wellhead netback, not with the announcement of the total investment.
Each phase buys different things at different times. The links lead to the matching market or trade.
Modular early production, under way
under wayThe block scales with modular plants rather than one large plant: the early production unit came into service in November 2025 and the first modular plant added another 25,000 barrels a day of capacity in May 2026. The declared cycle between the decision to build and start-up is 12 to 14 months, and that is the purchasing clock.
They are not buying any of this today. Open the phase to see the detail and arrive qualified the day it goes to tender.
The development measured by the environmental study, in permittingprocess open since January 2026; hearing held on 31 Mar 2026, no environmental decision yetnot started21 ítems+
150 wells on 29 pads across 25 locations, 50 sites, two twin treatment plants on a 70-hectare site, 215.5 km of pipelines in 129 segments, 61.7 km of roads, a fracturing sand hub, a contractors' camp and two freshwater ponds. This is the work that is quantified and still has no published builder.
No catalogued supplier yet: full operation of a contractors' camp with a modular sewage treatment unit per site office, which is how the environmental study itself organises the compound
RIGI scale, if the enrolment is approved25 years in two stages, counted from a resolution that has not been issuednot started24 ítems+
Four processing plants, more than 600 wells and a peak of 100,000 barrels a day and 12 million cubic metres of gas. This is the scale declared in the application: there is no act setting it and no dated schedule.
What it will need and has no supplier for yet
Technical audit for the carried partner: representing GyP's 10%
mediumThe state company Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén comes in as a minority partner without an equivalent operating outlay, which means its result depends entirely on the costs the operator declares. A carried partner that does not audit signs whatever it is handed. With GyP holding stakes in fourteen unconventional concessions, technical audit of costs, cost recovery and investment programs on behalf of the minority partner is a recurring service with a built-in conflict of interest: it cannot be provided by whoever already works for the operator. No niche on the map covers it.
Treatment capacity for 12 million cubic meters per day of associated gas
mediumThe project declares a peak of 100,000 barrels per day but also of 12 million cubic meters per day of gas, and that associated gas is not a by-product that can be deferred: if there is nowhere to separate and condition it, the constraint ends up falling on the oil, which is what pays. The province already has the gas treatment and compression niche measured, but this project does not yet appear among those feeding it, and the committed volume is among the largest in the portfolio. The window is construction, not operation.
We cross what you manufacture or do against the 3 phases of this project and tell you which ones you fit into and when each one buys. Two pages, with the evidence behind them.
Analyze my companyWhat it leaves in Neuquénjobs, works, taxes, promises and the outlook
The works that stay behind
The infrastructure that stays standing once the works end, with its size and its source.
Bajo del Choique Nordeste pipeline
Productive43 km of 12-inch line, capacity of 60,000 barrels a day
the block and, through the Oldelval terminal at Auca Mahuida, the evacuation system of the whole basin
In operation since March 2025. API 5L standard, design pressure of 101.24 kg/cm², monitoring fibre optics and two shut-off valve stations. It is the only permanent work in the project already finished and in service.
Two treatment plants, EPF#3 and EPF#4, on a single site
Productivebarrels of oil, 3.0 million m³ of wet gas and 27,500 barrels of produced water a day EACH, on a 700,000 m² site (700 × 1,000 m)
the block: they are what leaves the water fit for reinjection, the crude fit for sale and the gas to sales specification
Verbatim from the environmental study: «These plants will share the same design and a maximum processing capacity of 25,000 bopd of oil, 3.0 MMSCMD of wet gas and 27,500 bwpd of produced water each». The same document publishes the equipment list for each plant —117 units of 35 types, from three-phase separators and compressors to TEG columns, pumps and gas gensets—, which is the most granular purchasing map this project has made public.
Pipeline network of the development
Productivemetres in 129 segments: 67,630 m of trunk and interconnection lines (27 pipelines), 36,120 m of gas and liquids evacuation (2), 21,130 m in BIN C (34), 29,730 m of injection to disposal wells (7), 26,282 m of water and fuel gas (14), 14,790 m in BIN D (15) and 19,834 m in BIN E (30)
the block for the whole concession: it is the link between well pads, plants and delivery point
The environmental study breaks the pipelines down by family and by number of segments. ⚠️ The document itself states that the pipelines are reversible: at the abandonment stage they «will be removed from the project site for reuse or final disposal».
Trunk roads and access roads to facilities
Roadsmetres, with an average width of 6 metres
the area: the study itself describes the prior setting as one of «dirt roads, with very low to no maintenance» and «very low road density», and roads are the only thing the abandonment plan does not remove
Verbatim from the environmental study: «Construction of trunk and facility access roads, totalling: 61,710 m of road, with an average width of 6 m». Access to the site of the two plants adds a new 12-metre-wide stretch with a maximum longitudinal gradient of 6 % and a finish of load-bearing material at least 0.2 m thick, compacted.
Fracturing sand hub
Productivem² (216 × 324 m), with entry and exit weighbridges, unloading yards on a concrete slab and conveyor belts
the block and the area's sand logistics: it is the facility that sets how many sand trucks come in per day
The environmental study places the hub on a site of «70,183 m2 (216 m x 324 m)» and sizes its equipment against the number of trucks a day entering the plant.
Contractors' accommodation camp (BIN D)
Socialm² (300 × 200 m)
the block's contracting companies: the site is divided into areas assigned to each of them for their own site offices
⭐ Verbatim from the environmental study, and it is the most concrete way in that the project publishes: «Within the camp compound, areas will be assigned to each contractor for the installation of their site offices». It includes a barrier with access control, a multi-purpose hall, parking, office trailers, a canteen, washrooms, power generation, fuel storage, segregated waste disposal, a sewage treatment plant and a medical service. Each contractor installs its own modular effluent treatment unit.
Two freshwater storage ponds
Waterthe block: it is the facility that sets how much fracturing water the development can sustain
Verbatim from the environmental study: «The area proposed for the construction of the ponds is 397 m x 210 m. Each pond will be 151 m X 130 m, set 15 m apart. Total excavation depth will be 6 m». It is completed by 6 water intake wells, 7 disposal wells and 7 monitoring wells.
What it already pays in taxes and royalties
The project has been filed under the RIGI and has not been approved yet. Royalties and production taxes begin with operation.
Who promised what
We have not surveyed the public promises about this project. A dated, verifiable commitment with its source closes them.
What could stall itrisks and how to track them
- What could stall it — We have not documented this project’s risks. An identifiable vector with its source closes them.
- How to tell whether it is advancing — We have not defined this project’s indicators: what observable fact marks its progress still has to be identified.
How we verified thisthe act, the gaps and the sources
The RIGI act, in detail
The project has been filed under the RIGI and has not been approved yet. The instrument is published in the Boletín Oficial once the Committee approves the accession.
What we could not confirm
There are 4 in this project. Each says why it could not be confirmed and what it would take to close it.
H-01When construction starts and when operation begins+
The schedule of a RIGI project is read in the recitals of its admission resolution, and this project has no resolution published in the Official Gazette yet: it has been filed or announced, not approved. What circulates in the press are tentative company dates, with no act fixing them.
H-02Who is building the two EPF#3 and EPF#4 plants, the 215 km of pipelines and the 61.7 km of roads+
The work is measured down to the metre in the environmental study, but neither research pass found a published contractor. And there is a trap the document itself flags: the waste, aggregate and water providers the study lists are NOT chosen contractors — the text names them «by way of example» and clarifies that «this list is not exhaustive, since the contractor selected will depend on holding current permits and on commercial terms».
H-03The term of the concession and the text of Decreto 2444/15+
Decreto 1512/2024, which we did open, cites 2444/15 and transcribes the 400.27 km² area, but does not repeat the term. The 35 years and the December 2050 expiry come from a credit rating report, not from the act.
H-04How many plants are actually running, against the four the RIGI application declares+
The figures do not line up and they carry different dates: the application declares four processing plants, the environmental study projects two, the early production unit came into service in November 2025, the first of the modular plants added its module in May 2026, and a third was «in the tendering period» in August 2026. It is not a contradiction: they are different perimeters and different moments that no source reconciles.
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