LNG

Argentina’s state-controlled YPF, together with partners Eni and XRG, has submitted an application to enrol the Argentina LNG project in the country’s Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI). The $51 billion project will export liquefied natural gas from the Vaca Muerta shale formation, with operations targeted to begin in 2031.

Italy’s energy major Eni has agreed to acquire a 32% interest in three upstream blocks in the Vaca Muerta basin, designated as feedstock for an Argentine LNG export project. Argentina’s state oil company YPF, together with Eni and the Abu Dhabi-based investment firm XRG are working intensively to reach FID on the 12 mtpa Argentina LNG project during the second half of 2026.

Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE) and Argentina’s Southern Energy have signed an 8-years sales and purchase agreement (SPA) for 2 mtpa of LNG, with deliveries starting in late 2027. The deal, totalling 16 mtpa over the contract term, marks Argentina’s first long-term LNG export contract.

Argentina’s state oil company YPF, together with Italy’s Eni and the Abu Dhabi-based investment firm XRG, have signed a binding Joint Development Agreement to advance the 12 mtpa Argentina LNG project. CEO Horacio Marin said the three partners will now be “working very intensively to reach FID during the second half of 2026.”

XRG, the overseas business unit of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is in talks to invest in an LNG export project that Argentina’s YPF is developing. The proposed LNG development, based on gas from the Vaca Muerta shale, seeks to establish Argentina as a regional exporter by the late 2020s.

Argentina’s state oil and gas company YPF and the Italian energy giant Eni have signed the final technical project description (FTPD) for a 12 mtpa phase of the integrated Argentina LNG project – the final step before financial close. The floating LNG terminal is designated to export gas from the vast Vaca Muerta shale.

Argentine oil and gas incumbent YPF is about to take FID on developing the Vaca Muerta basin, supported by new legislation. “The new law allows LNG to be exported from gas produced in Vaca Muerte without having to pay tax,” CEO Horacio Marín said at Gastech today.

Argentina’s Vaca Muerta basin has seen shale oil production rise 35% yoy in the third quarter to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) due to productivity gains. To sustain growth, the $2.5 billion Vaca Muerta Sur pipeline is being developed to expand takeaway capacity from the field to global markets.

Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei has offered the post of President and Chief Executive of state-owned energy company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF) to Horacio Marín, an industry veteran and shale drilling expert who is a petroleum engineering graduate of the University of Texas.

The CERAWeek energy event in Houston is entering day four with an executive conference program on March 9 covering issues such as “Balancing Economic Growth and Reducing Emissions in Emerging Asia” and a discussion on the Latin American power industry after delegates heard on day three of half a dozen new projects including LNG production in Bahrain and Argentina.