Argentina’s vast natural gas resources would only be fully developed with an LNG export facility, according to experts who spoke at a recent energy conference.

“Clearly we think we need to develop the regional market,” said Pampa Energía’s director of commercialization and midstream, Santiago Patrón. The executive at one of Argentina’s top natural gas producers spoke recently at the South America Energy Summit in Santiago, Chile. “But we have excellent resources and obviously the only way to fully develop those resources is through an LNG project. To be competitive worldwide we need large scale projects.”

He said, “There is a window to do this, which is in the next five to seven years, so we have to be quick. But we need the right regulation in place, and we...