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Argentina's LPG exports to India more than double

  • Spanish Market: LPG
  • 20/03/26

Argentina has shipped 50,000 metric tonnes (t) of LPG to India in the first three months of 2026, more than double the 22,000t shipped to the country in full-year 2025, as Argentina's sustained production growth continues to bolster volumes into international markets.

Argentina's natural gas-driven LPG production reached 259,000t in January, a slight increase from 258,000t in the same month a year earlier, Argentina government data show. The country's LPG output stood at 2.63mn t in 2025, up from 2.6mn t in 2024.

Nearly 39,000t of the LPG were routed from the Bahia Blanca port — home to key waterborne exporters Compañia Mega and TGS — to India before the start of the US-Israel war on Iran on 28 February, Vortexa data shows. After the outbreak of the war, which threatens India's critical lifeline of the cooking fuel from the Middle East, Argentina shipped another 11,000t cargo on 5 March. This suggests the cargoes were likely purchased before the war broke out, as Argentina typically sells cargoes for loading 15-45 days forward.

There were no shipments from Argentina to India before 2024, according to Vortexa.

However, Argentina is poised to gain ground in India, as both Mega and TGS plan to direct any incremental spot volumes to the export market.

Mega plans to start up a new natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation train at its Bahia Blanca processing plant in early 2026, which will lift its processed NGL production to more than 7,000 t/d (2.56mn t/yr), with the additional volume targeting export markets, the company said.

TGS is preparing a $3bn NGL project in Vaca Muerta that includes building a 573km pipeline from its Tratayen gas processing plant in Neuquen to Bahia Blanca, a new fractionation plant with a capacity of 2.7mn t/yr, and a new export and storage terminal in Bahia Blanca. Any incremental volume would be directed to the international market, with the project expected to generate $1.2mn in exports a year, TGS said.

India meanwhile is racing to secure LPG cargoes after Mideast Gulf supplies were disrupted at the strait of Hormuz, causing an imminent supply shortage in the country. At least one more vessel departed India and is expected to pick up LPG in Argentina, according to a market participant.


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