BUENOS AIRES: Protests that briefly disrupted production in part of Argentina’s main shale oil producing region have ended and operations are back to normal, state-controlled energy firm YPF said.
Demonstrators from the local Zonal Xwanco and Campo Maripe communities late on Wednesday lifted their blockades on access roads to several drilling installations in the Loma Campana field, which YPF is exploiting with Chevron.
The disruption caused a production loss of 10,000 barrels of oil and about 1.5 million cubic meters of gas, YPF said.
“Loma Campana is operating normally,” a YPF spokesman said.
The communities were protesting over their territorial claims to the Loma Campana field, which lies in southern Neuquen province.
Argentina’s fledgling shale industry produces just 45,000 barrels of oil per day, and the formations under the wind-swept plains of Patagonia may hold some of the largest unconventional reserves in the world.
The protest was callled off following talks between Confederation of Mapuche representatives and local government officials.
Protesters described the halt as “a pause,” describing their demonstration as “a peaceful occupation.”
YPF said that the failure to extract oil as a result of the 36 hour protest meant a daily slump in revenue of up to US$100,000, and that unattended wells presented health and safety hazard.
The current conflict is just the latest in a series of skirmishes between the energy companies working the vast Vaca Muerta formation in Neuquén province and local indigenous communities who have inhabited the land for generations.
