Momentum has been building in the Vaca Muerta, Argentina’s shale patch in Patagonia that has the potential to export 1 million barrels a day of crude by the end of the decade if pipeline expansions go ahead as planned. But an escalating trade war between the US and its biggest trading partners has pressured global oil prices lower, threatening the economics of crude fields around the world. Brent oil, the global benchmark, is trading around $63 a barrel near a four-year low.