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In The Shadow Of Vaca Muerta, The City Of Añelo Transitions From Livestock Farming To The Heart Of Argentine Oil, Experiencing An Oil Boom With Million-Dollar Salaries, Record Rents, And Congested Roads, As Hospitals, Schools, And Public Services Struggle To Keep Up With The Pace Imposed By The New Energy Frontier
Vaca Muerta moved from the technical maps of geologists and executives to redraw the economic geography of Argentina. Since the 2013 agreement between YPF and Chevron, the formation in northern Patagonia has solidified as the country’s great energy trump card, currently providing more than half of Argentine gas and oil and helping turn a historic deficit into a surplus of about 6 billion dollars in the energy balance. This turnaround ensured internal supply and returned dollars to an economy that is chronically dependent on energy imports.
At the heart of this process, small Añelo transitioned from an agricultural village centered on goat farming to become the base city of Vaca Muerta, with heavy traffic, neighborhoods emerging over the arid plateau, and unprecedented pressure on housing, schools, health, and infrastructure. The permanent population surged from about 3,000 residents to around 12,000, accompanied by about 15,000 workers who “land” in the city on rotation, creating a daily life where oil money coexists with collapsing roads, service shortages, and a prohibitive cost of living for those who are not on the payroll of the major operators.
From Forgotten Village To Gateway Of Vaca Muerta
Until 2013, Añelo was on the fringes of Neuquén’s oil story.
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Other towns, like Plaza Huincul, Cutralcó, and Rincón de los Sauces, had already been transformed by conventional oil since the early 20th century, while Añelo remained a village of just over 3,000 residents, without piped gas, regular water, and frequent power outages.
The arrival of Vaca Muerta changed the scale. Fracking, a non-conventional oil and gas extraction technique, led to the first major agreement between YPF and Chevron and required a complete reorganization of the territory.
The promise of a mother rock rich in hydrocarbons at a depth of 3,000 meters turned Añelo into a logistical platform, service center, and accommodation for an industry that operates 24 hours a day.
Trucks, Sand, And Roads On The Brink Of Collapse
The Vaca Muerta boom started with the roads.
The simple rural roads that led to farms and agricultural areas began to accommodate white company vans, heavy trucks, and trailers hauling sand.
Sand is essential for fracturing the mother rock and keeping the cracks open, but it is not available in the right quality in Neuquén.
It comes from the province of Entre Ríos, about 1,300 kilometers away, all transported by trucks, as there is no railway connecting the two regions.
The result has been unprecedented saturation. In a single stretch of Highway 7, which connects Añelo to Chañar, the province’s Emergency and Risk Management Secretariat recorded 10 deaths in just six months.
Recently, almost 25,000 vehicles began entering Añelo daily, including about 6,400 trucks.
The roads, once designed for light traffic, began to crack, the road network entered a state of emergency, and reignited the debate over who should foot the bill: the provincial government, which collects royalties, or the oil companies that overload the infrastructure.
On the shoulder of this new “expressway” of Vaca Muerta, small businesses also exploded.
Favio Javier Jiménez, a tire repairman since childhood, saw his family shop “El Pampita” go from an isolated spot in the dunes to a central address, surrounded by the city’s expansion.
Vaca Muerta even transformed the tire shop into a strategic asset, to the point that Jiménez opened a second unit exclusively for heavy vehicles on the plateau, following the upward expansion of Añelo.
Plateau, Rent Of 2.8 Million And A Divided City
With the original area saturated, the solution was to go up. On the arid plateau, above the historic center, a second Añelo emerged, without a river, without trees, swept by clouds of dust, but with space to accommodate workers and newly arrived families.
Private developments advanced, initially with social neighborhoods aimed at longtime residents, followed by the entry of large construction companies.
Lots of about 360 square meters gave way to plots of approximately 5,000 square meters for apartment complexes and hotels.
Oil companies began to demand standardized units, with two bedrooms for four people, a living room, kitchen, and two bathrooms, as well as small grills, to accommodate teams in intense shifts.
The immediate effect was an explosion in rental prices.
A typical unit on the plateau can be rented for about 2.8 million pesos, a value that, when converted, approaches 2,200 dollars or nearly 12,000 reais.
In the provincial capital, Neuquén, a similar property costs just over 1 million pesos, approximately 800 dollars or 4,300 reais.
In practical terms, Vaca Muerta created a parallel real estate market, much more expensive than that of the capital, pushing teachers, public servants, and small merchants to the edge of the city or daily commutes of dozens of kilometers.
Container School And Accelerated Migration Shift
The Vaca Muerta boom also reached classrooms.
The CPEM 39 high school in Añelo saw enrollment nearly double in a few years, jumping from around 260 to over 500 students.
Without proportionate expansion of infrastructure, some classes began to be held in containers set up in the courtyard, a concrete expression of a city that is growing faster than the government can keep up with.
The school administration describes a continuous flow of new students, something between 10 and 12 per month, coming from different regions of Argentina and neighboring countries.
Families from northern Argentina, from other oil-producing areas in the south, such as Chubut and Santa Cruz, and migrants from Paraguay and Bolivia make up the new mosaic of Vaca Muerta.
There are also Dominican women who arrived with greater purchasing power, associated with services and prostitution in surrounding towns.
Vaca Muerta reconfigured Añelo’s human map, making the school a mirror of accelerated migration, but also of instability, as many students go through three or four schools in a single academic year due to their parents’ transfers.
Overburdened Hospital And The Difficult Task Of Bringing Specialists
While the population growth was rapid, the expansion of health services did not keep pace.
The public hospital in Añelo has a team of 10 general practitioners, but lacks essential specialists, such as gynecologists, obstetricians, pediatricians, and resident dentists, even with the increase in births and demand for care.
For doctors in the early or middle stages of their careers, the cost-benefit factor weighs heavily. Working in Añelo, a transitioning city with deficits in basic services, offers remuneration similar to more attractive destinations like San Martín de los Andes, Villa La Angostura, or Neuquén itself.
The lack of stable schools, the long distances traveled by teachers, and the precariousness of some urban infrastructure act as disincentives.
Vaca Muerta brings patients and resources but does not guarantee the retention of qualified professionals, forcing the hospital to operate at the limit.
Salaries Of Up To 12 Million And An Open Inequality
From a revenue perspective, the city experiences a clash of realities.
According to Mayor Fernando Banderet, a direct oil industry worker can earn between 3 million and 10 or 12 million pesos, which is between 2,400 and 9,600 dollars, or from 13,000 to 52,000 reais, depending on the conversion used.
Meanwhile, public employees, doctors, teachers, and police start at around 500,000 pesos and, after many years, can reach 1.5 million or 2 million, a range that fluctuates between 400 and 1,600 dollars, or from 2,200 to 8,600 reais.
This income disparity forces the municipality to create housing programs with long-term payment plans for those who are not directly absorbed by the Vaca Muerta chain.
Teachers report paying around 1 million pesos for small apartments, consuming half of their salary just on rent.
In practice, Vaca Muerta produces a sort of divided city, where tire repairmen, food truck owners, small merchants, and service workers must compete for space with oil salaries in an inflated market.
Vaca Muerta: Between Energy Salvation And Social Cost
From a macroeconomic standpoint, Vaca Muerta allowed Argentina to end two decades of external dependence on energy, turning a deficit into a surplus and aiming at oil and gas exports as a source of foreign exchange amid a chronic dollar crisis.
However, alongside the benefits came criticisms related to water consumption, pollution, and the increase in seismic activity associated with fracking in areas near lakes that supply Neuquén and the Río Negro Valley.
In the classroom, teachers like José Luis Cabrera find themselves torn between explaining to students the wealth that Vaca Muerta brought and the environmental and social impacts it imposes.
While families depend on oil salaries to keep their children in school, many young people no longer want to leave Añelo to study in other cities.
For some of them, the goal is to directly enter Vaca Muerta companies as soon as they turn 18 or 19, while some female students express a desire to marry workers in the sector, attracted by high earnings.
In a place where the pork sandwich sold by the roadside coexists with trucks of sand, high-tech wells, and million-dollar salaries in pesos, Vaca Muerta has consolidated a new frontier of wealth and also social tension.
In light of a Vaca Muerta that guarantees half of Argentine oil, multiplies salaries, and at the same time strains roads, schools, and hospitals in Añelo, do you think the boom should be accelerated to generate more dollars or slowed down until the infrastructure and services can keep up with this growth pace?
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