Americas Petrogas, Calgary, (TSX: BOE) has reported the spudding of the Los Toldos Este well that targets the Vaca Muerta shale formation in the Los Toldos blocks (163,500 gross acres or 255 sections or 660 square kilometers) located in the Neuquen Basin of Argentina.

The well has been spudded on Los Toldos II and is planned for drilling to a total depth of approximately 3250 metres with the principal target being the Vaca Muerta Shale along with other secondary traditional targets.

Barclay Hambrook, president and CEO of Americas Petrogas says, "We are pleased about our joint venture with ExxonMobil and Gas y Petroleo del Neuquen and are excited to begin drilling the first of several wells that primarily target the rich, thick Vaca Muerta shale formation along with several stacked potential conventional formations."

This is the first well within the farmout agreement between Americas Petrogas and ExxonMobil Exploration Argentina that was announced in August 2011.

The Los Toldos Este well will be a vertical pilot where the objective is to accumulate the maximum amount of information on the shale characteristics from logging, cores and samples to determine from subsequent analysis the optimum zones for testing and completion. Americas Petrogas is the operator of the well.