Trump Admin Accelerates Push to Export Fracking to Argentina

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By Josephย Siess

In June, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry traveled to Bariloche, Argentina, for a G20 Summit where he expressed his desire to help Argentina become more like Texas, his homeย state.

โ€œThe technology that has allowed for the shale gas revolution in America, we want to make available to Argentina,โ€ Perryย said.

At the summit, which was intended to focus on a transition to cleaner energy, Perry instead pledged the U.S. Department of Energyโ€™s support in helping Argentina exploit its vast fossil fuel resources. Namely by connecting the nation with U.S. companies that know how to extract shale oil and gas via hydraulic fracturingย (fracking).

But DOE isnโ€™t the only part of the U.S. government facilitating fracking in Argentina. Under the Trump administration, the Departments of Interior and State โ€” working closely with Pennsylvania State University โ€” have been involved in multiple workshops focused on developing shale oil and gas in the South American nation.ย ย ย 

The main target for fracking in Argentina is Vaca Muerta (translated as โ€œDead Cowโ€), one of the worldโ€™s largest unconventional oil and gas deposits, located in the Neuquรฉn Basin. The oil and gas industry has been eyeing this formation in west-central Argentina since its existence was announced inย 2011.

Argentine president Mauricio Macri wants to crack open Vaca Muerta to offset the mammoth amounts of natural gas the country currently imports. In the past five years, Argentinaโ€™s state oil company, YPF, has been involved with drilling more than 800 oil and gas wells there, including over a quarter using horizontal drilling and fracking, according to YPFโ€™s Marcosย Browne.

A recent statement issued by the government indicated that Argentina plans to double shale gas production in fiveย years.

โ€œWe see a bright future for natural gas, and we see YPF soon becoming an international player in the natural gas arena,โ€ predictedย Browne.

YPF is collaborating in Vaca Muerta with multinational oil and gas companies such as Total, Shell, ExxonMobil, and Chevron, all of which have made sizeable investments in the megaproject. In just the last year, operators have committed $6 billion to Vaca Muerta, according to Amanda Kupchella, a research analyst at Woodย Mackenzie.ย 

US Government Sends Fracking Support toย Argentina

At the G20 Summit, Perry said that the geology of Vaca Muerta โ€œis quite similar to the formations of shale that we have in the United States,โ€ and recounted opening up Texas to horizontal drilling and fracking while he wasย governor.

Perry said that he offered Juan Jose Aranguren, Argentinaโ€™s recently ousted energy minister, a โ€œtechnological partnershipโ€ with the U.S. private sector. However, in addition to Perryโ€™s support, the U.S. Department of State has been involved for some time in helping foreign governments develop their โ€œoversight and governance capacity in the energy sector,โ€ Vince Campos, a State Department spokesman, toldย DeSmog.

โ€œThe Department of State seeks to share U.S. best practices concerning the technical, regulatory, and fiscal underpinnings required to ensure safe and sustainable resource development in order to advance global and U.S. energy security,โ€ Camposย said.

โ€œIn some cases, this assistance can take the form of a workshop where experts from the Departments of State, Interior, Treasury, Commerce, and even the U.S. Coast Guard, share their experiences with host nation government counterparts on U.S. best practices,โ€ Camposย added.

One of these State Department-funded workshops, supported by the Department of Interiorโ€™s International Technical Assistance Program (DOIITAP), was slated for August 2 in San Patricio del Chaรฑar, a town located in Neuquรฉn not far from Vacaย Muerta.

Gabriel Sosa, general secretary of the Neuquรฉn Socialist Party and who was invited to the August 2 workshop, told Martรญn Alvarez, a local nonprofit researcher, that it was canceled due to securityย concerns.

The State Department confirmed that the August 2 workshop did not take place, but local media and municipal officials reported that other workshops were held around the same time, one in a town called Centenario on July 31, and another on August 1 in Rincรณn de los Sauces. ย 

Penn State Provides Technical Assistance to Argentineย Officials

In addition to U.S. federal support, Pennsylvania State University, located in the heart of the Marcellus Shale, has been a key player in offering technical assistance to Argentine officials. Tom Murphy, director of the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (MCOR), Penn Stateโ€™s shale energy education and research initiative, presented at the workshops in Centenario and Rincรณn de los Sauces, and was scheduled to present at the canceled workshop in San Patricio delย Chaรฑar.

Murphy appeared alongside the Bureau of Land Managementโ€™s (BLM) Olivia Sierra, the program director for DOIITAP, at these State Department-funded workshops inย Argentina.

An MCOR document from April 2017 stated that, โ€œAs one of several global initiatives, MCOR has entered into a funded cooperative agreement with the U.S. Dept. of State to provide in-country and distant (digital) education to government officials in Argentina, related to the development of Vaca Muerta shale resource in the western region of theย country.โ€

The document also explains that the energy program directly benefits the state of Pennsylvania, โ€œas many companies from the Commonwealth are deploying technology, staff and experience from Marcellus to the Vacaย Muerta.โ€

Murphy said that the canceled workshop, titled, โ€œSustainable Development of Non-conventional Hydrocarbons,โ€ as well as the other two workshops, were โ€œdevised by the Department of State.โ€ย ย 

โ€œWe were there because we were requested because of our experience and expertise as subject matter experts, along with Groundwater Protection [Council] and BLM,โ€ Murphy toldย DeSmog.ย 

Penn State, Murphy said, was requested by the federal government in Argentina as well as provincial and municipal governments in Neuquรฉn to participate in the workshops to share their experience and expertise in shale development.ย ย ย 

โ€œOur task is not to promote the developments,โ€ Murphy said. โ€œOur task is to explain, because they are already developing theirย resource.โ€ย 

โ€œThey were trying to learn the positives and the negatives and how they can mitigate any potential downsides that might occur,โ€ Murphyย added.

Local Resistance to US Frackingย Partnership

Sosa, described the State Department workshops as โ€œconstant blows from the United States against Argentinaโ€™s sovereigntyโ€ on a news segment broadcasted by RTNinforma.ย ย ย ย ย  ย 

According to photos of documents for the August 2 workshop released on Twitter, the purpose of the canceled State Department event was to โ€œexplore in greater depth the problems and implications associated with non-conventional gas development, as well as the paradigm changes in energy evolution that both nations [Argentina and the U.S.] areย experiencing.โ€

According to Campos, โ€œDepartment of State technical engagements are designed to help countries that already have expressed interest in developing their domestic resources understand the current state-of-play of the oil and gas sector inside the United States, particularly as it relates to mitigating environmental risks and the wide range of potential above-groundย impacts.โ€

Alvarez, the Argentine nonprofit researcher who tweeted the photos of the documents, said they came from a source who prefers to remain anonymous due to job security concerns. The photos were also shared on the Neuquรฉn Socialist Partyโ€™s Facebook page, with a call to action to stop the August 2 event from takingย place.

โ€œWe believe that we need to discuss state policy with the government of our country, and our province, and we are willing to do so,โ€ Sosa added during the televisedย interview.

โ€œDecisions on energy policy and priorities remain with the host nations,โ€ Campos said.ย โ€œArgentina remains a strong partner of the United States, and the Department of State supports Argentinaโ€™s desire to achieve improved energyย security.โ€

Main image: U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and other energy ministers from around the world in Bariloche, Argentina during the G20 Summit. Credit: U.S. Department of Energy, publicย domain

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