- SuperficiarIA
- Glossary
- Oil and gas easement (servidumbre hidrocarburífera)
Vaca Muerta glossary
Oil and gas easement (servidumbre hidrocarburífera)
The operator's right to use part of someone else's land for wells, roads and pipelines, in exchange for payment to the surface owner.
It is the right of hydrocarbon permit and concession holders to occupy third-party land for their works: drilling, roads, pipelines, plants. Law 17,319 (art. 66) grants it by reference to the Mining Code, and the owner's opposition does not stop the works if the company posts a bond for damages.
In exchange, the company pays. In the Neuquén and Cuyo basins the amounts come from Decree 861/96, which sets tables per well, per km of pipeline or road and for control and surveillance, updated by joint resolution of the Energy and Agriculture secretariats (the current one is 2/2026). Neuquén has no table of its own: Provincial Law 2183 (art. 8) refers to that decree.
Why it matters to landowners and companies
It is the main income oil and gas activity leaves to a piece of land, and a predictable cost for the company.
How it shows on the map
Each parcel card on the map estimates a yearly easement reference from what the official layers show inside it and the current Decree 861/96 table. Open the map.
Law and source
- Ley nacional 17.319 de Hidrocarburos (texto actualizado), Infoleg / argentina.gob.ar
- Ley provincial 2183 de Neuquén (1996), servidumbres e indemnización al superficiario
- Decreto nacional 861/96 (Cuencas Cuyana y Neuquina), tablas de servidumbre; actualizado por la Resolución Conjunta 2/2026 de las Secretarías de Energía y de Agricultura (BO 06/02/2026)
- Resolución 0012/21 de la Secretaría de Ambiente de Neuquén, procedimiento de liquidación de servidumbres