Faced with the investment magnet that is the Vaca Muerta shale formation , the Austral Marine Basin and the South Atlantic are once again taking center stage on the energy agenda. At the ARPEL 2026 Annual Conference (the Association of Oil, Gas and Renewable Energy Companies of Latin America and the Caribbean), held in Buenos Aires, the top executives of TotalEnergies in Argentina (which operates locally as Total Austral) confirmed that the company is evaluating expanding its offshore hydrocarbon activity through a two-pronged strategy: optimizing active platforms in Tierra del Fuego and advancing studies of the MLO-123 exploration block, located in the sensitive Malvinas Oeste Basin .

The announcement, detailed by Country Manager Sergio Mengoni and Tierra del Fuego Asset Director Eduarda Pina , contrasts sharply with the retreat scenario that the Argentine offshore sector has been showing, characterized by the withdrawal of international giants and the return of exploration permits.

The dual strategy: Production and Subsea Exploration

The plan by the French firm, the country's main natural gas producer, does not involve immediate expenditure to build new surface structures, but rather the intensive use of available technology to connect the seabed with the current Fuegian system.

The trajectory of offshore from 2018 to 2026

To understand the significance of Total Austral 's announcement, it is necessary to review the reconfiguration of the maritime map since the government of Mauricio Macri relaunched the exploration of the continental shelf.

Announcement and Launch

December 2017 - November 2018

Minister Juan José Aranguren announces the Offshore Exploration Plan at the IAPG. International Public Tender No. 1 is formalized through Decree 872/2018 , putting 38 blocks in the Argentine Sea up for bid.

Adjudication and Judicial Offensive

Mayo 2019

The Energy Secretariat awarded 18 areas to 13 international corporations for a commitment of $724 million. From Tierra del Fuego, the then-mayor of Río Grande, Gustavo Melella , filed a federal injunction denouncing the release of strategic geological information to companies linked to the British Crown (such as Tullow Oil ) and questioning the background of executives like Anne Drinkwater , former advisor to the colonial government of the Malvina Islands.

The corporate exodus in West Malvina

Year 2024

After processing the data from the first seismic campaigns, the American company ExxonMobil, in partnership with QatarEnergy , decided not to enter the second exploration period and formally returned the adjacent blocks MLO-113, MLO-117 and MLO-118 to the Argentine State.

The impact of the Argerich-1

Mid-2024

Equinor, YPF, and Shell drilled the Argerich-1 ultra-deep well in the North Argentine Basin (CAN-100). The result was "dry," dashing immediate expectations off the coast of Buenos Aires and accelerating the withdrawal of other companies from adjacent blocks.

Tullow and Shell losses

2025 - 2026

The consortium led by Britain's Tullow Oil has formally returned block MLO-119 in the south. Simultaneously, in early 2026, Anglo-Dutch Shell and Qatar Energy will relinquish block CAN-107 in the north. The original map of concessions is now reduced to less than half of its operators.

Distances and operational realities

Although the mention of the "Malvinas" block often generates confusion in mainstream media coverage, the directors clarified that the tasks are carried out strictly within the jurisdiction of the Argentine continental shelf tendered in 2019, without any link to the illegal British activities north of the islands ( Project Sea Lion ).

Geographically, current gas operations in the Austral Marine Basin are located in shallow waters, about 25-40 kilometers off the northern coast of the island, while the MLO-123 block is located in the West Malvinas Basin , in a deep-water environment about 110-140 kilometers southeast of Total's current infrastructure.

Faced with a South Atlantic that saw the investment plans of Exxon, Shell and Tullow vanish after meager geological results, the decision by Total Austral, YPF and Equinor to maintain the interpretation studies in the MLO-123 represents the last legal bastion of hydrocarbon exploration within the Argentine continental shelf.