LatinNews Daily - 25 September 2024

*Horacio Marín, the president of Argentina’s state-owned oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF), has said that the country is seeking European interest for a massive US$30bn liquified natural gas (LNG) project in Argentina. Speaking at a forum organised by the US Chamber of Commerce in Argentina (Amcham) in Buenos Aires, Marín said that the government was seeking international finance for the initiative, and was also due to have meetings over the next week in Italy, Hungary, Germany and the UK, to discuss the project. The initiative was also discussed during a recent visit to India by Marín who met Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s minister for petroleum and natural gas. A social media post dated 3 September also noted that the two had an “engaging discussion on the immense potential that exists to enhance trade opportunities between YPF and Indian companies” as well as on “expanding cooperation in traditional and non-conventional forms of energy”. On 31 July YPF announced that Sierra Grande municipality, Río Negro province, had been selected as a site for the LNG project, which is also being undertaken with involvement from Malaysian energy group Petronas, and which the YPF maintains will transform Argentina into the fifth biggest producer of LNG in the world. A 28 June update by international credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings notes that the project will initially export 40m cubic metres per day (m3/d) via two floating liquefaction terminals by 2030 and then an additional 80m m3/d with an onshore terminal by 2031. The same update cites Marín as having said previously that in total Argentina LNG project will have capacity to export 120m m3/d.