YPF plans to drill off Uruguay in 2027, says potential could top Vaca Muerta
This could be much bigger than Vaca Muerta, it could yield millions and millions of barrels of production, the executive projected
Argentina’s state oil company YPF plans to begin exploratory drilling of an offshore block off the coast of Uruguay between late 2027 and early 2028, its chairman and chief executive, Horacio Marín, confirmed, saying the area holds potential that, if confirmed, could surpass the Vaca Muerta unconventional field.
If I have to place a bet, I’ll place it, and we’re going to place it, Marín said of the OFF-5 block, during an address at the Córdoba Stock Exchange. This could be much bigger than Vaca Muerta, it could yield millions and millions of barrels of production, he projected. The executive framed those figures as an expectation subject to the drilling results, not as a confirmed discovery.
The OFF-5 block lies about 200 kilometers off the Uruguayan coast, covers close to 17,000 square kilometers and reaches water depths of up to 4,100 meters. In November 2025, YPF signed an agreement to transfer 50% of the area and its operation to Italy’s Eni, a deal still pending approval by Uruguay’s executive branch. Before drilling, the company must complete the reprocessing and interpretation of the area’s three-dimensional seismic data.
The interest rests on the geological similarity between the two margins of the South Atlantic, which formed a single basin before Africa and the Americas separated. That parallel fueled expectations following the discoveries recorded since 2022 in the Orange basin, off Namibia, where finds such as Graff and Venus added billions of estimated barrels. Preliminary studies estimate that Uruguay’s continental shelf could hold resources of around 30 billion barrels of oil equivalent, though specialists warn of the high costs and geological risk of deepwater exploration.
A second well, in the OFF-6 block, would be drilled earlier by the US company APA Corporation (Apache), which operates that area independently. According to industry information, that drilling — with an estimated investment of about 200 million dollars — could take place between late 2026 and early 2027, and would be the first offshore well in Uruguayan waters since 2016. The country’s exploratory history consists of just three wells, none of them productive.
The exploration manager of Uruguay’s state company ANCAP, Pablo Gristo, stressed the uncertain nature of the process. Our main objective is to drill the well on time and without incident. Nature will tell whether it is a geological success or not, he said. Gristo also noted that the outcome would be relevant not only for Uruguay but also for the North Argentine Basin, off Mar del Plata, and the Pelotas basin in southern Brazil, all part of the same Atlantic margin that international oil companies are watching with growing interest.