Pampa Energía - Rincón de Aranda
The RIGI's first oil upstream project. Adhesion on 25-Jun-2026 (Minute 23 of the Evaluating Committee) and approval by Resolution 1025/2026 of the Ministry of Economy (Official Gazette 21-Jul-2026), PEELP category: the act approves USD 4,521M in computable assets across three stages through 2041, with 259 wells (50 + 70 + 139). Employment splits in two and the difference matters: 715 direct and 500 indirect jobs in CONSTRUCTION, and 62 direct and 456 indirect in OPERATION. Target plateau ~45,000 bbl/d by the end of 2027; in Q2-2026 the block produced 23.4 kbbl/d. The capex jump —from the USD 376M midstream application of Jul-2025 to the entire project— was enabled by Decree 105/2026, which brought onshore hydrocarbon production into the RIGI with a USD 600M floor: it was a change of SCOPE, not the securing of evacuation capacity.
The projectwhat it is, the route, the owners, the works and the contractors
Who owns it
Pampa Energía verif Apr 9, 2026 ↗
The works, milestone by milestone
Resolucion 1025/2026 approving the accession is published: USD 4,521 M in computable assets, long-term strategic export category, 259 wells in three stages through 2041
The presidential press office announces the approval and publishes the employment breakdown: 715 + 500 in construction, 62 + 456 in operation
The RIGI Project Evaluating Committee meets and recommends approval (Acta N 23); it is also the legal accession date
Pampa files its SECOND application, the one covering the whole field: the Sucursal Dedicada Proyecto RDA applies to opt into the RIGI as a long-term strategic export project for ~259 new wells plus their associated infrastructure —including oil and gas pipelines— for ~USD 4,500 M
Decreto 105/2026 brings onshore hydrocarbon exploration and production into the RIGI with a USD 600 M floor, and extends the accession deadline by one year
Pampa files its USD 376 M midstream application with the RIGI, through the Sucursal Dedicada Midstream RDA, for a processing plant
The block's development plan starts, with a drilling campaign and facilities
The province grants the Unconventional Production Concession (CENCH) over the CNQ 38 Rincon de Aranda area, 239.39 km2, for 35 years
Who already has a contract
SACDE is building for Pampa Energía S.A. the central processing facility (CPF) rated at 7,000 Sm³/d of crude —with its crude, water and gas treatment plants plus the loading and unloading yard—, the 28.67 km gas pipeline in 8 inches for 500,000 Sm³/d, the 36 km oil pipeline in 12 inches with the first 10 km completed, three water ponds of 100,000 m³ each and the flowlines to the new PADs and wells. The contracted scope, in the contractor's own words, is «detailed engineering, integrated supply management (logistics, inspection, expediting, procurement of materials and equipment), construction, erection, pre-commissioning, commissioning assistance and start-up».
Maximia supplies SACDE with the Rincón de Aranda camp for 600 people —housing modules, offices, multi-purpose room, gym, kitchen and dining area— together with integrated catering, cleaning, laundry, maintenance and camp management services.
SPUSA hauled on 23-07-2026, between 8:15 and 19:00, two shell rings of a 500 m³ storage tank on two low-bed trailers that reached 9.6 m of total width with the load, from Plaza Huincul to the field along National Route 22, Provincial Route 17 (Portezuelo Grande and Portezuelo Chico dams) and provincial routes 7 and 8, with traffic control by the police.
The two shell rings of the 500 m³ storage tank that entered the field on 23-07-2026 came out of the Tornería El Pampeano workshop, in Plaza Huincul.
In July 2026 Rincón de Aranda recorded 93 fracturing stages, and the monthly market survey names Halliburton as one of the two companies providing the service on the block.
The same July 2026 survey names SLB as the other provider of the fracturing service at Rincón de Aranda. The report does not split the month's 93 stages between the two.
How to supply itwhere to register, what they ask for and what they will buy
How to become a supplier
It depends on the category, and getting it wrong costs the entire sales cycle. GOODS, CONSTRUCTION AND ASSEMBLY are invoiced to SACDE, not to Pampa: the EPC contract is five contracts whose written scope includes «integrated supply management (logistics, inspection, expediting, procurement of materials and equipment)», so whoever sells plate, valves, structures, assembly or site logistics sells to the EPC contractor. WELL AND SUBSURFACE SERVICES are invoiced to the RIGI holder, which is NOT Pampa Energía S.A. but PAMPA ENERGÍA S.A. – DEDICATED BRANCH PROJECT RDA, tax ID 30-71901911-7, registered at Maipú 1, Buenos Aires City: a dedicated branch with its own tax ID, different from the parent company's.
Two different decision-makers, and an asymmetry that decides where to spend sales effort. Construction purchasing is decided by SACDE, a related party declared by the issuer itself, with work under way: it needs to buy today. Subsurface purchasing is decided by the holder, whose supplier portal states in writing that it is under no obligation to reply. And above both sits a provincial authority: Centro PyME-ADENEU, under the Ministry of Economy, Production and Industry, which certifies Neuquén Suppliers and audits compliance with the 60% floor (published contact: energiaymineria@adeneu.com.ar).
The registration routes that exist today, with their status. The one that is up and running is not always the official one.
Certified Neuquén Supplier certification (Law 3338) — Centro PyME-ADENEU
up and running todayThis is the door to the provincial 60% floor. The portal requires a login and publishes neither requirements nor fees in the open, but THE CERTIFICATES ALREADY ISSUED ARE PUBLIC and hang from a predictable URL pattern (…/CPYME/Uploads_Aud/Solicitud_<N>/Certificado<N>.pdf). Each one carries company name, tax ID, city, issue date, RANK (A or B) and the list of covered services — that is, the category.
Go to the single windowabrirPampa Energía's SAP Ariba — new supplier registration
up and running todayThis is the route for the well and surface categories the holder buys directly. Declared contact: registro.proveedores@pampa.com. Two traps in the circuit itself: the application form is NOT the registration procedure —it is a prior step— and the categories are mandatory: if they are missing, the application is discarded. The portal states in writing that the company is under no obligation to reply.
Go to the single windowabrirRePGTyORE — Provincial Registry of Generators, Transporters and Operators of Special Waste
up and running todayThis is the mandatory door for handling this development's flowback, fracturing sand, drilling muds and contaminated soil. Registration comes in three separate capacities (generator, transporter, operator), each with its own requirements and renewal. ⭐ And unlike almost every other category, HERE THE LIST OF COMPETITORS IS PUBLIC: the authority publishes the roster of licensed transporters with company name and e-mail — 71 firms for the whole province, updated to August 2025.
Go to the single windowabrirWhat they ask you for
⭐ The SUPPLIER's contract pays Stamp Tax even though the project does not: the exemption excludes it in writing prob Jul 31, 2023 ↗Article 12 of provincial Decree 1435/2023 —the project's own concession— exempts the project's instruments and its financing from Stamp Tax for the whole term of the concession, and EXPRESSLY EXCLUDES «instruments entered into for the provision of operational services in the block». ⇒ the holder pays no stamp tax on its financing; the service supplier does pay it on its contract.
Certified Neuquén Supplier status, and the rank decides what it is worth: A gives a 9% margin, B gives 6% prob Aug 24, 2026 ↗The preference is NOT a right to charge more: with a bid up to 9% (rank A) or 6% (rank B) above the best non-certified offer, the supplier OBTAINS the preference, and having obtained it «shall match» that price (arts. 3(e) and 14 of Law 3338). ⇒ it does not invoice a premium: it invoices at the competitor's price and takes the contract the competitor had won. What the rule delivers is awarded volume, not unit margin.
The two zero boxes that exclude you from the regime before you start prob Nov 18, 2022 ↗«Suppliers scoring zero in Company Regime or Local Employment shall not qualify for any rank». The score is a weighted formula of 30% Company Regime + 20% Shareholding + 10% Registered Offices + 30% Local Employment + 10% Bases and Offices (rank A ≥ 80 points, rank B between 65 and 80), and Company Regime is calculated on the AVERAGE OF THREE FISCAL YEARS of turnover tax. ⇒ the certification clock starts about three years before you apply, not on the day of the application.
⭐ Certification also gives access to the operators' purchasing plan BEFORE the tender prob Nov 18, 2022 ↗Article 9 of the implementing decree obliges the covered companies to report SEMI-ANNUALLY every procurement of goods, services and works that will go out to tender, with deadlines on 15 February and 15 August, and that plan «shall be kept private and may only be viewed by the Enforcement Authority and by Certified Neuquén Suppliers».
The anti-front-company lock: opening a Neuquén subsidiary of an outside firm does not work prob Aug 24, 2026 ↗«Purchases from controlling or controlled entities, or from members of the same economic group, shall not be counted as purchases from Neuquén companies» (art. 11, Law 3338). And a firm paying most of its turnover tax in another jurisdiction is capped at 15 of the 30 points in the Company Regime box. ⇒ the local presence has to be real, and it takes years, not months.
For special waste: environmental damage insurance and a technical representative actually domiciled in the province prob Apr 1, 2025 ↗The RePGTyORE requirements demand corporate purpose covering the activity, a special address WITHIN THE CITY OF NEUQUÉN, an Environmental Licence for EACH operating base, a Technical Representative registered with the RePPSA and actually domiciled in the province, a Contingency Plan, a Health and Safety Manual with annual training, vehicles listed in the hazardous-cargo registry labelled per Annex S of Law 24,449, and policies covering environmental damage to the cargo plus civil liability, «which shall be a precondition for circulating and providing services». There is a mandatory fee (Res. 431/19) and its amount does not appear in the requirements.
Operating in Añelo costs 1% of turnover — 43% more than the general commercial rate verif Oct 22, 2025 ↗Article 48(b) of Rate Ordinance 863/2025 sets 1% on turnover for the Special Hydrocarbon Activities Regime, against 0.7% for general commerce (art. 47) and 0.9% for industry, construction and large companies (art. 48(a)). On top come annual minimums by revenue bracket —up to ARS 100 M: 400 Tax Units · ARS 100 M to 500 M: 1,500 · ARS 500 M to 5,000 M: 6,000 · above ARS 5,000 M: 30,000— plus a surcharge for occupied floor area. Filing an Environmental Impact Study costs 97 Tax Units, and each construction-waste container, 35.
The order you get in by
Choose the CATEGORY before the paperwork, because the 60% floor is measured per category and only switches on «for those in which certified Neuquén suppliers able to bid exist». In a category with no certified supplier the floor does NOT apply; the day a capable one appears, it switches on for that category. The provincial State itself names two categories short of local supply: chemical products and electrical services. before any paperwork
Arrange the corporate and payroll structure, because the score is calculated on the average of three fiscal years of turnover tax and on the share of local employment, and two zero boxes exclude you from the whole regime. ~3 years of tax history; 1 year or more of proven local address
Start the Neuquén Supplier certification with Centro PyME-ADENEU (energiaymineria@adeneu.com.ar). ⚠️ The fee, the processing time and the ISO standards required per category are NOT published: the law delegates the criticality criterion to the authority and the list is not public. not published
Send the quote to the door that matches the category, not to the better-known one: goods, construction and assembly go to SACDE; well and subsurface work, to the holder's SAP Ariba registration via registro.proveedores@pampa.com. construction is under way: the assembly window closes with it
⛔ Do NOT file the «RIGI Suppliers» procedure expecting to enter the 20% quota. That quota is measured on «goods and works» and leaves SERVICES outside the denominator, and the State itself says in writing that the procedure is not needed to be an eligible local supplier. Filing it unnecessarily costs a chartered engineer, 12-digit tariff codes, an annual sworn statement with an accountant and a permanent minimum-billing obligation. It only makes sense if you are going to import duty-free. —
If you already are a Certified Neuquén Supplier and, being able to bid, were not invited: art. 12 of Law 3338 obliges you to report it and art. 23 allows the sanctions procedure to start ON A COMPLAINT. ⚠️ And it is worth knowing what actually bites: the immediate consequence of missing the 60% is an improvement plan, not a fine (art. 15 of the implementing decree); the fines actually applied were for FAILING TO REPORT. the 60% is measured per calendar year
What it will buy, and when
Three stages dated in the resolution itself: CPF, pipelines and 50 wells through July 2028; 70 wells through July 2031; 139 wells through 2041. The first buys civil works, a processing plant and pipelines; the following ones buy drilling, fracturing and repeat logistics. They are different markets and the calendar is published.
It is the RIGI's first oil upstream project, and what sustains 259 wells across three stages is the netback holding up: every improvement in relative prices at the wellhead widens the margin and makes the next drilling tranche profitable; every worsening postpones stages the resolution has already dated.
Rincón de Aranda's crude needs a way out: the first stage includes pipelines of its own and the development leans on the corridor's evacuation capacity. If transport fills up, the constraint stops being the price and becomes the pipe.
Each phase buys different things at different times. The links lead to the matching market or trade.
First stage - CPF, pipelines and 50 wells
under wayUSD 1,159 M and 50 horizontal wells: central processing facility, oil pipelines and gas pipelines. This is the stage that pays today.
They are not buying any of this today. Open the phase to see the detail and arrive qualified the day it goes to tender.
Second stage - 70 wells1 Jul 2028 -> 1 Jul 2031not started24 ítems+
USD 1,107 M and 70 wells. Before it ends, the USD 2,000 M minimum investment floor set by art. 4 of the act falls due.
Third stage - 139 wells1 Jul 2031 -> 2041not started26 ítems+
USD 2,255 M and 139 wells, the largest of the three. It closes the approved plan at 259 wells and USD 4,521 M.
What it will need and has no supplier for yet
Technical accreditation of computable assets before the Energy Secretariat
highThe resolution that approves it does not approve and walk away: it requires accrediting, in the first and second year, an investment in computable assets of at least 20%, and reaching a floor of USD 2,000 M before 1 July 2031, all under inspection by the Energy Secretariat. On a USD 4,521 M project split into three stages through 2041, each accreditation is recurring technical-accounting work: asset computation and valuation, documentary backup, defence before the inspector, with a deadline written in the rule. It is not the same service as provider-registry paperwork: this sits on Pampa Energía S.A., the holder, and today Buenos Aires firms do it. SACDE is the plant EPC; it does not do this accreditation.
Surveying and fieldwork for 259 well pads over 17 years (not negotiation: the State sets the price)
mediumThe 259 committed wells do not arrive at once: 50 through 2028, another 70 through 2031 and 139 through 2041, and each one carries its pad, its access road and its gathering pipelines. ⛔ What this work is NOT: a negotiation. Provincial Law 2183 —read in full, all 12 articles— puts the price on the State's side: the enforcement authority sets the compensation and easement amounts once the final declaration of works is filed (art. 7), and calculates them from the schedule in National Decree 861/96 (art. 8). The surface owner may accept them or sue (art. 2), but their opposition «shall in no case be sufficient cause to suspend or impede» the works if the company posts security for the damages (art. 5). And the payment does not go into their pocket: it goes to the Fund for the Conservation and Recovery of the Natural Environment (art. 7). ⇒ What is sold here is execution —survey, measurement, declaration of works, registration, environmental compliance— not brokerage. ⚠️ And the timing is the reverse of what the well split suggests: the final third holds 54% of the 259, but spread over ten years. In rate terms that is 12.5 wells/year through 2028, 23.3 between 2028 and 2031, and 13.9 from then to 2041 ⇒ the demand peak is the second stage, and the window to position closes before 2028, not in 2031. No niche on the map quantifies it and there is no local provider sized for it; notaries and generalist firms absorb it.
Final disposal capacity for flowback, not just its treatment
mediumIn the basin, more than 95% of flowback ends in disposal wells instead of being recycled, and the five Añelo plants that concentrate treatment received 1,022,290 m³ in 2023, 35.2% more than the year before, working at the limit. A development of 259 new wells dumps flow onto a saturated system: 50 wells through 2028, 70 more through 2031 and 139 through 2041. Who generates that flow today is Halliburton and SLB, who frac the block; SACDE builds the three 100,000 m³ water ponds, which is treatment, not final disposal. The water niche measures treatment and reuse; the other half has no owner: drilling, permitting and operating disposal wells, with the environmental permit as the real barrier.
Fiscal metering and custody transfer of export-bound crude
mediumThe PEELP category commits the project to long-term export, and the approved scope includes treatment, storage and transport of the oil. Every volume that crosses into export goes through fiscal metering and custody transfer: certified standards, traceable calibration and an independent third-party audit, because the number sets what is billed and what is taxed. The crude is not delivered at an own plant: the oil pipeline goes to YPF's Unconventional Pumping Header at La Amarga Chica and the gas pipeline to Electrocompressor EEC11 at Borde Montuoso. Custody transfer is an act between Pampa Energía S.A. and a third party, not an internal booking. In Catamarca lithium that same service already has a market of its own; in Neuquén calibration is still done by labs outside the province. Stage one (50 wells, USD 1,159 M) closes on 1 July 2028: that is the window to get in position.
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
How many jobs it creates
715 direct jobs and 500 indirect ones verif Jun 30, 2026 ↗
62 direct jobs and 456 indirect ones verif Jun 30, 2026 ↗
The works that stay behind
The infrastructure that stays standing once the works end, with its size and its source.
12-inch oil pipeline from Rincón de Aranda to YPF's Non-Conventional Pumping Head at La Amarga Chica
Productivethe block itself; the delivery point is a YPF facility, not a Pampa one
Rincón de Aranda's crude does NOT reach export through its own infrastructure. Verbatim from the provincial environmental filing: «laying of a 12" diameter, 36.5 km oil pipeline to transport oil production from the Rincón de Aranda block to YPF's Non-Conventional Pumping Head (CABO NOC) located in the La Amarga Chica block».
8-inch gas pipeline from Rincón de Aranda to the EEC11 Electric Compressor Station at Borde Montuoso
Powerthe block itself; the delivery point is a third party's facility at Bajada del Palo Oeste
The associated gas does not leave through its own facility either. Verbatim from the provincial environmental filing: «from the Rincón de Aranda block to the facilities of the EEC11 Electric Compressor Station at Borde Montuoso in Bajada del Palo Oeste».
Three storage ponds for fracturing water
Waterm³ across three 100,000 m³ modules, on a 193,875 m² site
the block for the whole concession; it is the facility that sets the block's water and flowback volume
Three ponds of 100,000 m³ each on a 193,875 m² site, with their own Environmental Impact Study published by the provincial environmental authority. It is the facility that sets how much fracturing water and flowback the block generates.
What it already pays in taxes and royalties
Item by item, with the rule that sets it. A rate is not the same as what is collected, nor what is received the same as what is projected.
Hydrocarbon royalty verif Jul 31, 2023 ↗+
Hydrocarbon royalty - top rate from 20 Jul 2027 verif Jul 20, 2027 ↗+
Area Extension Bonus verif Jul 31, 2023 ↗+
Corporate Social Responsibility Contribution verif Jul 31, 2023 ↗+
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
EX-2026-24259120- -APN-SCEYM#MEC verif Jul 21, 2026 ↗
Jun 25, 2026 verif Jul 21, 2026 ↗
Jul 20, 2026 verif Jul 20, 2026 ↗
Jul 21, 2026 verif Jul 21, 2026 ↗
The act’s articles, in detail
8 facts on the commitment
2.000 verif Jul 21, 2026 ↗
1.099 verif Jul 21, 2026 ↗
2031-07-01 verif Jul 21, 2026 ↗
4.521 verif Jul 21, 2026 ↗
Pampa Energía S.A. - Sucursal Dedicada Proyecto RDA, tax ID 30-71901911-7, registered at Maipú N° 1, Buenos Aires City. verif Jul 21, 2026 ↗
Jun 25, 2026 verif Jun 25, 2026 ↗
Energy Secretariat verif Jul 21, 2026 ↗
What we could not confirm
There are 6 in this project. Each says why it could not be confirmed and what it would take to close it.
H-01How many pesos a Tax Unit is worth in Añelo — and without that, what a supplier actually pays+
The 2026 Rate Ordinance was downloaded in full (90 pages, 71 MB) and read end to end, including its 57 scanned pages: it sets EVERYTHING in Tax Units and ends at article 138 without ever saying what one is worth. The value lives in Ordinance 129 (the Municipal Tax Code), which is not on the provincial mirror and whose municipal site is down.
H-02Where the USD 5,518,000 Corporate Social Responsibility contribution was applied: at least one destination is missing+
The published destinations add up to a minority of the total. The official Vista Alegre press release of 27 May 2025 —the candidate to carry the missing destination— was opened, and it does NOT: it mentions the contribution in a single generic sentence, with no amount, and the only figure in the piece is the ARS 536 million cost of the works as a whole, executed by the municipality with repayable provincial funds.
H-03Which consultancy signs the project's Environmental Impact Studies+
It would be the only environmental-engineering link in the whole block with a name attached. Both the provincial authority's Environmental Impact Study listing and the filing for the treatment plant were opened: they publish the proponent (Pampa Energía S.A.), the file number (EX-2024-01757139-NEU-SADM#SAMB) and the date, and name neither the consultancy nor the responsible professional. The listing, moreover, only shows the study currently in public hearing, not a history.
H-04How many pesos a servitude «well-equivalent» is worth — it would be the dataset's first quantified servitude cost and it applies across Neuquén+
⭐ THE RESOLUTION HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED — its official text was opened and read on 2026-08-31 — and with that half of this gap falls: the latest one updating the amounts of Decreto 861/96 is RESOLUCIÓN CONJUNTA 2/2026 of the Energy and the Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries secretariats (RESFC-2026-2-APN-SAGYP#MEC, Boletín Oficial No. 35847 of 06-Feb-2026), which raises dry-land compensation as of 1-Aug-2025 by 60.71% in Zone A, 90.36% in Zone B, 54.29% in Zone C and 54.40% in Zone D, and in turn updates Conjunta 1 of 27-Dec-2024. ⛔ BUT THERE IS STILL NO PESO FIGURE, AND THE REASON IS STRUCTURAL, NOT A SEARCH FAILURE: the whole chain since 1996 updates BY PERCENTAGE over the previous resolution, and the tables of Annexes I to VI of Decreto 861/96 are not reproduced in the official text online — it was read in full on InfoLEG and the articles cite them as «escalas» without transcribing a single figure.
H-05Official production by block (Chapter IV sworn statements) — the only indicator that would isolate this block without relying on private surveys+
The host `datos.energia.gob.ar` resolves through DNS (168.101.26.134) but REFUSES THE CONNECTION on ports 80 and 443. The datos.gob.ar catalogue does answer 200 and lists more than fifty resources from the dataset, but ALL of them point at that dead host, and the datastore API does not mirror them (404). Eleven attempts accumulated across three passes, over two hosts and two protocols. ⚠️ This is a host outage, not a missing document: the data exists and the State publishes it.
H-06The list of goods the project may import duty-free (file IF-2026-58124279)+
Read the other way round, it is the map of what this project will NOT buy from Argentine industry. The Official Gazette notice references it and does not reproduce it. Resolution 60/2026 of 30 July 2026 was suspected of having replaced it: that notice was opened BY DATE and it did NOT — that resolution comes from the Mining Secretariat and replaces the list of the «Proyecto Rincón» lithium development of Rincón Mining PTY LTD, a different company and a different project. The only overlap was the name.
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