Oil workers in the Argentine provinces of Rio Negro, La Pampa and Neuquen, home to the sprawling Vaca Muerta shale oil and gas formation, said they will begin a 24-hour work stoppage at 8 p.m. March 19 to demand better workplace safety.

The strike was called after the recent death of a worker in one accident and another that caused three injuries in Vaca Muerta, the local oil and gas workers union said in a statement.

“We demand that the necessary security measures be taken to guarantee the life and well-being of the workers,” Guillermo Pereyra, head of the Private Oil and Gas Workers Union, said in the statement.

The measure will affect the operations of companies operating in the area, chiefly Argentina’s state-controlled energy company YPF.

Vaca Muerta, about the size of Belgium, could house one of the biggest reserves of unconventional gas and oil in the world. The government of Argentina is counting on the formation to help the country regain its standing as a net energy exporter.

Onshore