Overview
- VMOS reached about 80% completion by July 2026 and is scheduled to begin crude dispatches in early 2027, initially adding roughly 180,000 barrels per day of evacuation capacity.
- An official study by the Consejo Federal de Inversiones projects that truck loads for fracturing sand could rise between 15% and 148% by 2029 and concludes the current road-dominant model will be unviable under medium and high growth scenarios.
- The CFI’s cost modelling shows a multimodal chain using ship + rail + truck could cut proppant transport costs sharply to about US$35.2 per tonne versus roughly US$62.7 per tonne for ship + truck, but this requires new terminals, rolling stock and coordinated volume aggregation.
- Rail links to Vaca Muerta are degraded, with only about 37% of the Cañuelas–Cipolletti corridor rated in good condition and commercial speeds under 10 km/h, and river/port segments lack equipment and face customs and shipping-service gaps that limit waterway use.
- Activity is expanding north toward a ‘Hub Norte’ near Rincón de los Sauces and companies are accelerating investment plans, but industry scenarios that project up to 984 wells and production gains of as much as 144% by 2029 depend on timely evacuation and logistics upgrades and will increase truck traffic and strain local roads and services.