Americas Petrogas
| Company type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Oil and gas exploration and production |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Founder | Barclay Hambrook, Carlos Lau |
| Defunct | 2016 |
| Fate | Rebranded as GrowMax Resources Corp. |
| Headquarters | Buenos Aires , Argentina (operations), Canada (based) |
Area served | Argentina (Neuquén Basin) |
Key people | Barclay Hambrook, Carlos Lau |
| Products | Oil, natural gas, shale resources |
Number of employees | 50 (2014) |
Americas Petrogas, Inc. was a Canadian-based company engaged in oil exploration and production within Argentina’s Neuquén Basin. After ceasing its oil-related activities in 2016, the company rebranded as GrowMax Resources Corp.
Petroleum engineers from Ryder Scott valued the company’s shale assets at 7.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) on a P50 Best Case Unrisked Prospective basis, covering formations such as Lower Agrio, Vaca Muerta, and Los Molles. The firm garnered attention from major players including ExxonMobil, resulting in a joint venture on four out of its nine shale blocks, with Americas Petrogas maintaining operatorship. Together, they announced three discoveries within the Vaca Muerta formation.
Its subsidiary, GrowMax Agri Corp, is advancing a substantial fertilizer project involving phosphate, potash, and carnallite deposits located in Northern Peru’s Sechura Desert, adjacent to Vale’s Bayovar phosphate mine. Vale collaborates with partners such as Mitsui and Mosaic on this initiative.
History
Established in 2004 by oil entrepreneur Barclay Hambrook alongside business associate Carlos Lau, Americas Petrogas focused its exploration efforts on South America. Combining Lau’s knowledge of local political and business environments with geological expertise from a former chief geoscientist, the founders conducted thorough assessments of fiscal frameworks, geological prospects, and infrastructure to facilitate early-stage asset monetization.
Due to political instability, Ecuador and Venezuela were excluded; Brazil’s oil industry remained tightly dominated by Petrobras; Chile offered limited opportunities; Colombia faced security challenges; and Peru’s dense jungle terrain posed high costs and risks for emerging companies. Consequently, their attention centered on Argentina’s Neuquén Basin—geologically akin to Western Canada yet relatively underexplored—backed initially by personal and family capital.
Operations
Starting in 2004, Barclay and Carlos began assembling an extensive land position while forming a capable management team aimed at attracting investment from both private investors and major oil companies. Today, Americas Petrogas controls nearly 900,000 net acres spread across 12 substantial blocks within the Neuquén Basin, operating 11 of these blocks directly. This portfolio includes four blocks managed jointly with ExxonMobil. The company concentrates on drilling and discovering unconventional shale oil and gas resources, alongside conventional exploration activities in the Medanito Sur, Rinconada Norte, and Vaca Mahuida blocks. All five Vaca Muerta shale wells drilled by Americas Petrogas resulted in discoveries, with performance testing ranking them among the top shale wells in the basin.
In 2013, Ryder Scott produced an independent Resource Report on Americas Petrogas’ unconventional assets, which was updated in 2014. The report estimated an unrisked prospective recoverable resource of 7.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent (P50 Best Case) across nine western shale blocks encompassing the Vaca Muerta, Lower Agrio, and Los Molles formations.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that the Neuquén Basin contains recoverable resources amounting to 585 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas and 20 billion barrels of oil, making Argentina the world’s second-largest natural gas supplier after China and the fourth-largest oil producer globally.
By 2014, Americas Petrogas employed approximately 35 personnel based in Buenos Aires along with 15 field staff members whose combined experience exceeded 800 years from previous roles at companies such as Chauvco Resources Argentina, Pioneer Natural Resources, as well as other American and Canadian firms.