Argentina has secured financing for the second leg of the Néstor Kirchner natural gas pipeline system, energy secretary Flavia Royon said this week during a conference in Buenos Aires.

Argentina

She said the state had obtained financing for $689 million from the Brazilian National Development Bank and another $540 million from Latin American development bank Corporacion Andina de Fomento, or CAF.

Royon added that the first phase would increase Vaca Muerta takeaway capacity by 30%.

Government officials think the pipeline’s $1.5 billion first phase, which is set to have a capacity of 24 million cubic meters/day (MMm3/d), or about 847 MMcf/d, should be online by June. It will stretch from the town of Tratayén in Neuquén province to Salliqueló in Buenos Aires province, passing...