From 6 p.m. onward, the cold intensifies, and the wind throws you off balance as you walk. It is the same old wind that has blown across the Neuquén plateau for centuries, the one that for decades made Añelo just another town deep in Patagonia, with its small farms, goats, and seasonal grazing lands.

Nothing in that scene foreshadowed the endless caravan of trucks loaded with sand, pipes, and equipment traveling along Provincial Route 7 toward the oilfields.

Beneath the town lies the crown jewel of the Neuquén Basin: Vaca Muerta, the unconventional oil and gas formation that has become Argentina’s main source of dollars.

According to June data, it produces more than 915,000 barrels of oil per day, with output expected to approach the one-million-barrel mark by the end of the year. 

Extraction grew 26.4% year over year. As a result, crude oil export sales totaled US$5.722 billion between January and July, up 59.2% from the same period in 2025.

In the middle of the vast Neuquén desert, at the heart of Vaca Muerta, lies a town experiencing the full contradictions of development: dozens of stray dogs roam the streets while enormous urban potential remains untapped.

In 2023, paved roads covered barely 12 blocks. A paving plan launched in 2024 expanded that figure to 12,280 meters in 2025, with another 5,000 meters expected by late 2026. 

Parts of Añelo still lack sewage networks and natural gas, but public works are advancing under an urbanization plan developed jointly with companies operating in the formation.

Mayor Fernando Banderet maintains that the municipality is changing and that Añelo will be a different place in three years.

The ongoing projects are intended to prove him right: preparations are underway for a water treatment plant, the sewage network is expanding, and private-sector plans include two shopping centers — one with an indoor private school — a riverside recreational boardwalk, a five-star hotel with a facade modeled on the United States’ White House, hospitals, schools, and judicial buildings.

“By 2030, around 50,000 residents will live in the city,” Banderet says.

The inevitable question is whether moving to Añelo in search of work is worth it. The Herald’s sister publication Ámbito toured the municipality to try to find an answer.

Today, Añelo is a land of opportunity for those who arrive with a certified trade, a profession related to the hydrocarbon sector — or an adjacent field such as construction — or a business venture expected to pay off in the medium to long term.

However, arriving on a whim, with a family and no plan, is becoming less........

© Buenos Aires Herald