In searching for partners for their LNG project, YPF and the Italian ENI added a third partner: the company XRG, the international energy investment arm of ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company).
The three companies must follow a series of regulatory steps. Once surpassed, they will go out to seek financing for nearly 29,000 million dollars.
The project that brings together this unusual trio could generate 200,000 million dollars in 20 years: 10,000 million dollars annually – half from LNG, half from oil – would arrive in two decades.
YPF and ENI already signed a technical agreement a month ago. What was agreed with ADNOC is a kind of “framework agreement”, which should be signed in the next 30 days.
There is still a final regulation of the RIGI, a specific law for Río Negro for the operation of LNG ships and the final signing of concessions. After that will come the search for the financing agreement.
This understanding is 12 million tonnes per year (MTPA, in industry jargon). YPF plans to add another six million MTPA with a “supermajor” that the company does not yet want to discover.
Horacio Marin, CEO of YPF said: “the incorporation of XRG to the Argentina LNG project strengthens a key initiative for the country’s energy future.”
ADNOC produces around 4 million barrels per day, 5 times more than YPF does.
