Through publication in the Official Gazette, the constitution of MA Energía SAU was formalized, a new single-member limited liability company created with an explicit objective: to legally protect its assets, accelerate massive development in Vaca Muerta and coordinate the export of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to international markets.

This corporate maneuver occurs after violating Argentine legislation, especially National Law No. 26,659 ("Pino Solanas Law") , which expressly prohibits corporations that have explored the Argentine continental shelf under illegitimate British colonial licenses from operating in the country, an unavoidable precedent for Harbour Energy due to its role in the Sea Lion field north of the Malvina Islands.

Legal architecture: corporate screen and unlimited powers

The formal registration of MA Energía reveals a corporate structure designed to operate in the shadows of current sanctions:

Harbour's men at the helm of the new label

The appointment of MA Energía 's top management confirms that it is not an isolated satellite company, but an implementing arm directly managed by the board of directors of the British oil company in the country:

The business numbers: 74,000 barrels per day and a strategic triangle

The British company's expansion in Argentina is not a theoretical projection; it is an ongoing extractive reality. During the first half of 2026, Harbour achieved an average local production of 74,000 barrels of oil per day (kboepd) , supported by proven and probable (2P) reserves estimated at 266 million barrels and contingent (2C) resources of 722 million barrels equivalent .

This volume rests on three key assets:

1.    Southern Marine Basin (Tierra del Fuego): Controls 37.5% of the offshore consortium CMA-1 together with TotalEnergies and PAE, the block where the Fénix gas megaproject operates.

2.    Vaca Muerta (Neuquén): It owns 22.5% in Aguada Pichana Este —where it connected nine gas wells this year— and 24.7% in the San Roque shale oil block, whose first phase of large-scale development is aimed at 2027.

3.    The exporting node (Río Negro): Retains 15% of Southern Energy , the consortium integrated with YPF, PAE, Pampa Energía and Golar LNG to export 6 million tons of LNG annually through liquefaction ships in the San Matías Gulf, benefiting from the RIGI regime.

The challenge to sovereignty and the complicity of States

The launch of MA Energía confirms how a company barred from operating for plundering hydrocarbon resources in the Malvina Islands under the name Premier Oil now not only extracts gas and crude oil in three Patagonian provinces, but also creates new companies to consolidate a multi-million dollar export circuit.

The creation of this new corporate vehicle aggravates the situation presented to the Attorney General's Office : while the national government and the governments of Tierra del Fuego, Neuquén and Río Negro validate the legal fiction of Wintershall Dea , British capital structures its business for 99 years in the Argentine subsoil, circumventing the law and defying the constitutional mandate on the South Atlantic.

Fountain:

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