Argentina doubles Vaca Muerta oil estimate

Argentina's Energy Secretariat said the Vaca Muerta shale formation holds an estimated 30.17 billion barrels of recoverable oil, according to a new technical study commissioned from the Argentine Oil and Gas Institute (IAPG).

The figure is nearly double the 16.22 billion barrels estimated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2013.

The government attributed the increase to an expansion of the productive area, thicker sections of commercially viable rock and improvements in drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques.

"I had no doubt, because we have all seen how the basin's productive footprint has expanded into Río Negro and Mendoza," said Energy and Mining Coordinating Secretary Daniel González.

At current production rates, González said the estimated resources would be equivalent to nearly 100 years of production and 250 years of oil exports.