Argentina

Libertarian Javier Milei swept to victory in Argentina’s presidential elections last month promising drastic change and a radically new way of doing business in the country. The 53-year-old outsider has since vowed to privatize state oil and natural gas firm YPF SA. “Everything that can be placed into the hands of the private sector, will…

Argentina has authorized the firm supply of natural gas via pipeline to neighboring Chile through the end of 2024, reflecting Argentina’s aspirations as a key energy exporter to South America and the world.  Having already guaranteed the flow of 9 million m3/d to Chile for the 2023-2024 austral summer, Argentina now has granted Chile the…

Argentina’s natural gas pipeline offering additional takeaway capacity from the Vaca Muerta shale formation went into service earlier this month. The Gasoducto Presidente Néstor Kirchner pipeline was built in 10 months, “record time,” the Energy Secretariat said. Capacity on the pipeline is 25 million cubic meters/day (MMcm). The line stretches from the town of Tratayén…

Argentina’s natural gas pipeline offering additional takeaway capacity from the Vaca Muerta shale formation went into service earlier this month. The Gasoducto Presidente Néstor Kirchner pipeline was built in 10 months, “record time,” the Energy Secretariat said. Capacity on the pipeline is 25 Mm3/d. The line stretches from the town of Tratayén in Neuquén province…

Executives at Argentina’s state oil and gas firm YPF SA in an earnings call acknowledged the difficult economic environment in the country but said upstream plans remained unchanged. Hydrocarbon production hit 511,000 boe/d in the first quarter of 2023, up 1% year/year. Shale oil and natural gas led the way, mainly from the Vaca Muerta…

Argentina’s natural gas segment has been transformed by the Vaca Muerta shale formation and the country might well again become a net energy exporter. The country is undergoing a massive natural gas infrastructure buildout in an attempt to make that the case. Vaca Muerta is the second largest shale gas resource on the planet, with…

Europe’s energy crisis is likely to “influence the LNG supply and demand balance through the end of this decade and beyond,” according to Excelerate Energy Inc. CEO Steven Kobos.  But beyond import terminals in Europe, Excelerate also is maintaining long-term focus on the continued strength of its South American liquefied natural gas business. Three of…

Excelerate Energy Inc. is looking for more opportunities to grow its nascent LNG portfolio, but not only with U.S. projects, as it expands its role as a global natural gas supplier. CEO Steven Kobos said during a fourth quarter earnings call that the company, headquartered in The Woodlands near Houston, had pivoted its “near-term commercial…

Not since the 1990s has Argentina’s natural gas segment seen so much infrastructure buildout. And it doesn’t look like it’s over yet. Argentine officials met with executives from energy companies last week to work out future infrastructure works with an eye to growing natural gas and oil production out of the prolific Vaca Muerta Shale…