Page 12 - GLNG Week 11 2023

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YPF, Petronas hope to make FID on

Argentina GNL project next year

ARGENTINA ARGENTINA’S national oil company (NOC) He also stated that drilling rigs might have
YPF and its Malaysian counterpart Petronas to be imported for the upstream portion of the
The aim is to reach an expect to make a final investment decision (FID) scheme, since Argentina lacked the specialised
FID next year. on a natural gas and LNG project in 2024. equipment needed to optimise development
Pablo Iuliano, the CEO of YPF, told reporters operations. Additionally, he mentioned other
at the CERAWeek conference in Houston last infrastructure facilities, saying that a new oil
week that the partners had drawn up plans for terminal and a two-phase gas pipeline from
carrying out the $60bn project, known as Argen- the Vaca Muerta region to Northern Argentina
tina GNL, in five separate phases. The initiative would be required to boost Argentina’s oil and
is designed to help Argentina monetise its vast gas output and exports.
unconventional gas reserves and become an Moreover, he said, YPF is slated to take an
exporter of LNG, he said. FID on a midstream project that will connect
The first phase of the project will require an oil pipeline originating in the Vaca Muerta
a $5-6bn investment and will involve the con- region to a terminal and a monobuoy that can
struction of facilities capable of producing up load supertankers for exports. If this project is
to 5mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG, he said. given a green light, he said, construction will be
Petronas sent a team of experts to Argentina last expected to start in late 2023 or early 2024.
month to draw up plans for this stage, he said, Since Argentina is sitting on one of the world’s
without elaborating. largest shale gas reserves, potential investors are
Iuliano did not provide an exact breakdown waiting for the country’s government to pass leg-
of the other four stages of the Argentina GNL islation designed to promote LNG and hydro-
project. However, he did say that the first phase gen production, the YPF head continued. “We
would be followed by further activities aimed see that law as a very good first step [to create]
at integrating gas production, storage, pipeline conditions in the future for other businesses,” he
transportation and liquefaction. stated. This law is an “absolutely necessary” step

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