<article><p class="lead">Excelerate Energy won a tender to reactivate the country's Bahia Blanca regasification terminal, bringing the company back to the port where it imported LNG for a decade. </p><p>Excelerate has been informed of the award of the short-term lease of a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), although there has not yet been an official announcement from the government, a company official told <i>Argus</i>.</p><p>Argentina's state-controlled YPF carried out the hastily arranged tender on behalf of state-owned energy company Ieasa, with the aim of <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2189373">supplementing domestic gas supply</a> during the peak-demand winter period that starts in May.</p><p>The lease runs from late May through August.</p><p>YPF and Ieasa declined to comment.</p><p>The award points to the small field of candidates that were in a position to compete on short notice. Excelerate had already operated the LNG import terminal in Bahia Blanca from 2008 until late 2018, when former president Mauricio Macri bid a ceremonious farewell to the US firm's 150,900m³ <i>Exemplar</i> FSRU. At the time, Argentina was counting on its Vaca Muerta shale formation to restore its role as a regional gas exporter. But the play has not lived up to expectations, partly because of government price intervention and broader economic policies that have discouraged large-scale investment.</p><p>Elsewhere in Buenos Aires province, Excelerate still operates a smaller LNG import terminal in Escobar.</p><p>The government recently launched a subsidy program meant to stimulate domestic gas production, but industry executives say it came too late to ensure adequate supply for the winter months.</p><p>Argentina also imports pipeline gas from Bolivia, where output is falling, and seasonal regasified LNG from Chile.</p><p>In the first two months of 2021, Argentina's gas production declined by 11pc, on the year, to 115.3mn m³/d. That continues a trend from last year, when production fell by 8.6pc year on year, to 123.2mn m³/d, according to energy secretariat data.</p><p class="bylines">By Daniel Politi</p></article>
