Recent approvals for natural gas exports reveal the degree to which Argentina believe it is on the cusp of revolutionizing the region's energy sector with its shale gas reserves.
"We have an opportunity to monetize our natural resources," said Rolando Figueroa, governor of the Neuquen province, on the sidelines of a conference hosted by the Council of the Americas last week. "We need to do it now and we need to do it correctly."
The key is the Vaca Muerta unconventional play, located largely in Figueroa's southern province. With an
estimated 308 Tcf of shale gas, the world's second largest according to the US Energy Information Administration, Argentina sees it meeting national, regional and international ambitions.
At present, the government is building out midstream infrastructure for domestic use and recently started to approve contracts for companies to export Vaca Muerta gas to neighboring Brazil and Chile.
Argentina has already authorized four companies — France's TotalEnergies and Argentina's Pan American Energy, Pluspetrol and Tecpetrol — to export up to 6mn m³/d gas to Brazil through Bolivia.
Argentina is also looking at a direct pipeline link to Brazil, another through Paraguay and extending an existing pipeline to Uruguay to the border with Brazil. The most recent buzz is LNG, with state-owned YPF and Malaysia's Petronas planning a massive LNG complex on Argentina's southern coast with 30mn t/yr capacity.
Gas exports to Chile have also been authorized, with a deal to export 9mn m³/d through end-2024 signed last year.
Argentina inaugurated the 573km (356mi) President Nestor Kirchner pipeline in July 2023 to link Vaca Muerta to Buenos Aires, the capital. It transported 16mn m³/d in July.
The flow on the 1,454km northern Argentina-to-Bolivia pipeline is also being reversed. A 100-km loop essential to the project was completed on 21 August and the government expects to complete it in September, when Argentina's current 4mn m³/d gas supply contract with Bolivia expires. The reversal project will expand capacity to 19mn m³/d of gas, with a plan to add another 10mn m³/d.
It will supply the north of the country and create conditions for gas exports to Brazil using Bolivia's infrastructure, which links the three countries.
Bolivia and Argentina are connected through a 480km pipeline system, while 557km links Bolivia and Brazil. The tri-country connection has benefits, but Argentina is looking at alternatives. Eduardo Rodriguez, Argentina's energy secretary, said his country could use 20mn m³/d idle capacity in Bolivia's pipeline system.
