Ariel Gordon, YPF’s LNG public affairs manager, stated the project will generate over $10 billion in annual exports for two decades, matching current total industry output. The plant will separate products extracted from the blocks and transport them via a 48-inch gas pipeline and 24-inch liquids pipeline to a second processing facility at Golfo San Matías in Río Negro province. The development is projected to create 20,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs, peaking at 40,000 during simultaneous construction phases. Operational employment will stabilize around 8,000 annual positions, with over 80 percent expected to be national and local hires. YPF estimates $15 billion in domestic procurement of goods and services.
Víctor Carcar, secretary general of construction union UOCRA, mobilized members to the hearing and demanded priority for local labor, appointing Natalio Benavídez as the project’s union representative. Plaza Huincul mayor Claudio Larraza called the initiative a historic opportunity for the oil towns sidelined by the 1990s YPF privatization, emphasizing the region’s existing industrial expertise and supplier base.
Argentina LNG is being developed with Italy’s Eni and XRG, the international arm of UAE state company ADNOC. The project’s first phase targets 12 million tonnes per annum of LNG capacity through two floating liquefaction units, with a potential second phase adding 6 million tonnes. CEO Horacio Marín revealed YPF will submit two more RIGI applications within two months, including a potential third LNG vessel requiring approximately $25 billion and a new oil development in northern Vaca Muerta. These would join already-filed projects including the $25 billion LLL Oil development and the $8 billion Southern Energy consortium. Dutch contractor Fugro NV, under sanction investigation for Malvinas-related work, has secured a contract with YPF for Argentina LNG services.
This article was curated and published as part of our South American energy market coverage.
