Neuquén revokes an unconventional concession in Vaca Muerta and reassigns it in 21 days

Neuquén declared the lapse of an unconventional concession in Vaca Muerta for failure to carry out the committed pilot plan verif; that it is the first time the province has done so is not stated in the decree unconf. (1) Decreto 1148/2025: declares the Puesto Silva Oeste CENCH of Pluspetrol S.A. revoked for violating Art. 2, subsection B of the Agreement approved by Decreto 1280/2022 — the company did NOT execute the committed pilot plan, which the decree itself puts at «fourteen million two hundred forty-nine thousand United States dollars (U$D 14,249,000)» to be executed within no more than three years: locations and roads, drilling, completion and start-up of ONE well with an SWB (Single Oil Well Battery). The province rejected the extensions: the decree states that the deadline «is peremptory and mandatory, an extension not being admissible on commercial, strategic or business grounds», which is what Pluspetrol was invoking with a view to a possible assignment to a third party. With the lapse of the unconventional title, the area returned to its previous status: only the original Exploitation Concession from Administrative Decision 216/97 remained in force, extended by Decreto 2100/08 (art. 2 of Decreto 1148/2025 itself, which further clarifies that the time elapsed under the CENCH neither suspends nor interrupts the term of the original concession). The «expiring May 2032» we used to cite does NOT appear in the decree: it comes from computing the 2100/08 extension and remains our own derivation, not a fact from the act. (2) Decreto 1270/2025: authorizes Pluspetrol to assign 100% of its stake to GeoPark, which receives a new 35-year CENCH. GeoPark's commitments: a USD 14.5 million pilot plan over 3 years (a 2,500 m horizontal well with 42 frac stages), an infrastructure bonus of USD 4,000,000, USD 362,500 of Corporate Social Responsibility and an annual contribution of USD 20,000 for the Energy and Hydrocarbons Undersecretariat. GeoPark assigns to Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén (GyP) 5% of the economic rights of the concession, without assigning it title: GeoPark remains the 100% holder and operator. Confirmed in the official text of Decreto 1270/2025: GyP 5% of the economic rights, with no share in the title, a fixed USD 4,000,000 infrastructure bonus, 12% royalties (new and existing wells) + a USD 5,278,500 Compensation Bonus. Still pending: the "binding three-year monitoring" was not confirmed in any source. verif · Sep 23, 2025 ↗

2025-09-19 verif · Sep 19, 2025 ↗

Operators with unconventional concessions in Neuquén that fail to carry out the committed pilot plan: the decree shows that the province does not accept extensions on commercial grounds and declares the lapse verif. New entrants to Vaca Muerta through the purchase of areas, with GeoPark as the case, and Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén (GyP), which enters with 5% of the economic rights of the reassigned block verif. The service companies and SMEs working around it gain demand when the area passes to an operator that actually invests in drilling, fracking, batteries and infrastructure thesis. verif · Sep 19, 2025 ↗