Argentina LNG: YPF Targets February 2027 Start, Needs Three More Letters
ARGENTINA · ENERGY
Key Facts
- —What happened YPF chief executive Horacio Marín said on 29 September 2026 that Argentina LNG needs “three more letters” of financing support before it can go ahead.
- —The timeline Marín said construction would start in February, which means February 2027 if the partners take their final decision late this year.
- —The project Argentina LNG, owned by YPF, Italy’s Eni and the Emirati firm XRG, plans to export Vaca Muerta gas from floating plants off Río Negro.
- —The catch The US Export-Import Bank’s offer of up to US$6 billion is non-binding, and no final investment decision has been taken.
- —What comes next Marín, Eni’s Claudio Descalzi and ADNOC’s Sultan Al Jaber present the project in Paris on 1 October 2026.
Argentina LNG, the country’s largest planned investment, is the showpiece of President Javier Milei’s Paris trip. Its owners still need more lenders on board.
YPF, Argentina’s state-controlled oil company, says its Argentina LNG gas-export project needs three more financing letters before construction can begin. Chief executive Horacio Marín said on 29 September 2026 that works would start in February.
Three letters stand between the plan and the works
Marín spoke on Radio Rivadavia, a Buenos Aires station, on Tuesday. The Salta daily El Tribuno carried his remarks early on Wednesday: “Three more letters are missing”.
The letters are expected commitments from export credit agencies. These are state lenders that finance sales of their own countries’ equipment. Such letters usually open the door to commercial bank loans.
“The LNG gets going and in February we start doing the works,” Marín said. He added that many banks were interested.
The first came last week from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), Marín said. Three more are needed.
What the US offer is, and is not
EXIM offered up to US$6 billion for Argentina LNG on 23 September 2026. The offer is non-binding, and the money would pay for US equipment and contractors.
We covered that offer and the wider US Andes-Atlantic Corridor when it was announced. The new element is Marín’s timeline and his count of what is still missing.
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A gas-export project on a national scale
Argentina LNG would take gas from Vaca Muerta, a vast shale field in Neuquén province, and chill it for export. LNG stands for liquefied natural gas, which travels by ship.
The design uses two floating liquefaction units in the San Matías Gulf, off Río Negro province, YPF says. Their combined capacity is up to 12 million tonnes a year, with room to grow to 18 million.
YPF puts the lifetime investment at about US$51 billion, which the partners call the largest in Argentina’s history. YPF holds 36%, with Eni and XRG, an investment arm of Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC, on 32% each.
In August 2026 the partners applied to RIGI, Argentina’s incentive regime for large investments. It offers tax, customs and currency benefits locked in for 30 years.
Marín said a 48-inch pipeline would carry a volume of gas similar to what Argentina has traditionally produced. All of it would be aimed at export markets.
Why it sits at the centre of the Paris trip
President Javier Milei is in Paris for Argentina Week, a showcase for foreign investors running from 30 September to 2 October. He meets French President Emmanuel Macron on 1 October.
The same day, Marín, Eni’s chief executive Claudio Descalzi and ADNOC’s chief executive Sultan Al Jaber share a panel on the project. Its title calls Argentina LNG “the largest investment in the country’s history”.
Patrick Pouyanné, chief executive of France’s TotalEnergies, also takes part in the energy programme.
Our earlier report on the trip covered the governors travelling with Milei and the political bargaining at home. The gas project is the concrete business deliverable on the table.
What is still unknown
No final investment decision has been taken. The partners have not said which three agencies are expected to send the missing letters.
YPF has also not named buyers for the gas. In mid-September, Marín said the company was close to signing two or three long-term sales contracts.
The risks and the counterweights
LNG projects take years to build, and gas prices move in long cycles between shortage and surplus. Exports would begin only around the end of the decade, on the partners’ timelines.
The counterweight is work already under contract. A pipeline construction contract worth more than US$1 billion has been awarded, along with a contract for a gas-processing plant.
Those contracts mean suppliers are already tied to the project’s design. What remains open, by Marín’s own account, is the rest of the financing.
Marín also offered an oil forecast. Argentina’s oil output would “surely” reach one million barrels a day between the end of 2026 and early 2027, he said.
What it means for investors and residents
For holders of YPF shares or Argentine bonds, the missing letters are the next milestones to watch. Each one would make the final decision more likely.
For Neuquén and Río Negro provinces, February works would mean pipeline and coastal jobs years before any export revenue. The partners’ decision, expected before year end, will set that calendar.
More: Milei’s Paris trip · The US Andes-Atlantic Corridor · Argentina news, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Argentina LNG?
It is a project by YPF, Eni and XRG to export Vaca Muerta shale gas as liquefied natural gas. Floating plants off Río Negro would have up to 12 million tonnes a year of capacity.
When will construction of Argentina LNG start?
YPF chief executive Horacio Marín said works would begin in February, after three more financing letters arrive. The partners have not yet taken their final investment decision.
Has the US financed Argentina LNG?
The US Export-Import Bank offered up to US$6 billion on 23 September 2026. The offer is non-binding and would pay for American equipment and services.
Sources: El Tribuno · YPF, Argentina LNG
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