Several Italian business associations, in collaboration with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Argentina, organized a conference to support the oil and gas sector in the South American country. Specifically, it focused on one of the world's largest shale gas and shale oil reserves in Vaca Muerta.
Vaca Muerta is an oil shale deposit in the Neuquén Basin in Argentina, spanning the provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro, La Pampa, and Mendoza. This formation is among the largest oil shale deposits worldwide.
The oil shale layers vary in thickness between 60 and 520 meters. Since 2013, preparations have been underway to develop the deposits using unconventional extraction methods such as fracking. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the recoverable reserves amount to 162 billion barrels of oil and 87 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. This represents a tenfold increase in Argentina's previously known oil reserves.
As part of the revitalization of Italian relations with Latin America, particularly Argentina, the event aimed to further promote and strengthen economic and trade relations between the two countries. The focus was on energy as a sector of significant mutual interest. The event, held in Milan, was primarily directed at Italian companies operating in the oil and gas sector.
