The company cut the cost of horizontal drilling to around US$8 million from US$17 million a well, while the time required to complete a new well has been reduced to 15 days from 40 days.

Argentina recently has been pushing again to lure energy investment into the country, particularly into its massive Vaca Muerta formation.

Despite the vast reserves, lack of production has left the country short on energy, and a bump in production is unlikely to curb imports in the near term. In 2016, Argentina was forced to significantly increase imports of LNG and purchase supplies from Chile.

"For quite a considerable time, Argentina will be importing LNG," Gutierrez added.