Shares in Vista Energy SAB, Argentina’s top oil exporter, jumped in New York on Monday after tech billionaire Peter Thiel reported a sizeable stake in the company.
Vista’s American depositary receipts rose 4.9 percent to US$71.67 as of 10.49am in New York, the highest level in two months. The company’s Mexican stock rose 5.5 percent to 1,229 pesos per share.
Thiel Macro LLC reported owning almost 1.2 million shares in Vista at the end of the second quarter, then worth about US$76 million. The June 30 value of the fund’s position in Vista was second only to Amazon.com Inc and Vista was the only non-US company listed in its holdings, according to an Aug. 14 US regulatory filing.
Thiel’s new position in Vista – which is spearheading development of Argentina’s vast shale oil resources – comes as he bought a home in Buenos Aires and has spent time in Argentina this year. That’s prompted speculation about whether he has broader plans in the country. In April, he met with President Javier Milei, a fellow libertarian, who’s implementing a free-market experiment in an economy that was highly regulated for two decades.
Under Milei, Argentina has removed controls on oil prices and exports, and regained access to global financial markets, jump-starting growth in its Vaca Muerta shale patch in Patagonia, where combined crude and natural gas production has already surpassed 1 million barrels a day. The boom is starting to transform Argentina’s economy.
After big-ticket acquisitions this year and last, Vista produces about 160,000 barrels a day, most of which it exports. It has plans to further increase output, and has a stake in Argentina’s signature shale oil export project VMOS, a pipeline and port that are being built and will start operations next year.
American depositary receipts for Argentina’s biggest shale producer, state-run YPF SA, rose as much as 4.2 percent. Ezequiel Fernández, an equity analyst at Balanz Capital in Buenos Aires, said news of Thiel’s stake in Vista might drive a broader Argentine shale rally. Still, US-traded shares in peer TGS SA edged lower on Monday, while Pampa Energía SA rose just 0.1 percent.
“I wouldn’t expect a structural or long-lasting impact,” on the shares, Fernández said. “After all, Thiel isn’t a recognised oil investor.”
by Jonathan Gilbert & Maria Elena Vizcaino, Bloomberg
