Italy’s Eni SpA and Argentina’s YPF SA have signed an agreement to build a liquefaction facility to enable the export of natural gas from the Vaca Muerta field in the South American country.
“The agreement defines the required steps to reach the final investment decision for the phase of the project that includes the production, treatment, transportation and liquefaction installations of gas through floating units, for a total capacity of 12 million tons of LNG per year”, Eni said in an online statement. The capacity is planned to grow to up to 30 million tons per annum (MMtpa) by 2030.
“Argentina LNG is a large-scale integrated, upstream and midstream gas development project designed to develop the resources of the onshore ‘Vaca Muerta’ field and serve international markets”, Eni added.
The state-owned companies executed the agreement during a meeting in Rome between Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“We see great interest worldwide, both from large production companies and from countries seeking to purchase gas from Vaca Muerta”, YPF chief executive Horacio Marin said April 14 as the companies announced a memorandum of understanding for Eni’s participation.
Last year YPF signed a project development agreement with Shell PLC for Argentina LNG, putting the planned phase 1 capacity at 10 MMtpa at the time.
Last month Golar LNG Ltd. and its partners in the Southern Energy project to export Vaca Muerta gas announced a positive FID (final investment decision) and fulfilled conditions for a 20-year redeployment of FLNG Hilli, the first of two vessels for Southern Energy.
The floating LNG facility, fully acquired by Golar last year, will be chartered to the project consortium, Southern Energy SA (SESA), under a contract that is expected to start up 2027. Hilli began operation 2018 and has been deployed in Cameroon for Perenco SA under a contract that expires July 2026.
Concurrently the Southern Energy partners penned definitive agreements for the 20-year charter of MKII FLNG, which is being converted in China. They expect to make an FID this year and deploy the unit in 2028.
Under agreements that Golar signed last year with Pan American Energy SL (PAE), the Bermuda-registered developer of maritime LNG infrastructure has obtained a 10 percent stake in the consortium. Local producer PAE owns 30 percent, YPF 25 percent, Argentinian player Pampa Energia SA 20 percent and London-based Harbour Energy PLC 15 percent.
“The project has received the full support of the National and Provincial Governments in Argentina that granted all necessary approvals including the first ever unrestricted 30-year LNG export authorization in Argentina; qualification for the Incentive Regime for Large Investments; and provincial approval by the province of Río Negro for the offshore and onshore Environmental Impact Assessments for FLNG Hilli”, the companies said in a statement.
“The FLNGs will be located in close proximity of each other, offshore in the Gulf of San Matias Gulf in the province of Rio Negro, Argentina. The vessels will monetize gas from the Vaca Muerta formation, the world’s second largest shale gas resource, located onshore in the province of Neuquen, Argentina.
“FLNG Hilli will initially utilize spare volumes from the existing pipeline network. SESA intends to facilitate for a dedicated pipeline to be constructed from Vaca Muerta to the Gulf of San Matias to serve gas supply to the FLNGs”.
To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
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