Argentina locks in $900 million for pipeline to feed first large-scale LNG exports

Argentina's San Matias Pipeline consortium said on Friday it had closed a $900 million project finance loan to build a pipeline from the Vaca Muerta shale formation to the Atlantic coast in Rio Negro province, a crucial piece of financing for the nation's long-delayed ambition to become a global natural gas exporter.

The financing marks a major milestone for a country trying to turn one of the world's largest unconventional gas reserves into hard-currency export revenue.

The seven-year loan was structured by Citi, J.P. Morgan, Santander and Itau, with BBVA, Bladex, Barclays, ICBC and Bank of China also joining the banking syndicate.

Construction is due to start in August 2026 and finish by mid-2028, according to the group. The 36-inch pipeline will have capacity to transport 27 million cubic meters of gas per day, enough to supply two floating LNG plants being developed by Southern Energy, a separate consortium with the same ownership group.

Those vessels - the Hilli Episeyo, due to begin operating in 2027, and the Esperanza, expected in 2028 - are planned to produce a combined 6 million metric tons per year of LNG. The expected shipments would mark Argentina's return to large-scale LNG exports.

The 472-km (293-mile) pipeline will carry gas from Vaca Muerta - Argentina's vast shale play in Patagonia - to floating liquefied natural gas vessels planned for the Gulf of San Matias.