The largest oil project underway will generate exports of more than US$ 5,000 million in 2027

The consortium of oil companies that makes up VMOS, formed by YPF, Pan American Energy (PAE), Pluspetrol, Vista Energy, Pampa Energía, Tecpetrol, Chevron, Shell and Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén (G&P) It will begin selling unconventional oil to the world for about 180,000 barrels per day (bpd), then move to about 377,400 bpd in mid-2027 and scale to about 550,000 barrels per day later, probably in 2028.

The 437-kilometer pipeline will unblock a bottleneck in the evacuation of crude oil from the Neuquén basin to the Atlantic Ocean, through Río Negro. At maximum capacity, For every day that it is not in operation, Argentina loses exports of 50 million dollars.

That is why Horacio Marín, president and CEO of YPF, stated that the inauguration of the VMOS is one of the “strong objectives” of the industry in the coming months.

One of the risks facing the project is the monobuoy logisticswhich will be installed 8 kilometers out to sea, near Punta Colorada. According to what Gustavo Chaab, general manager of VMOS, revealed, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is a complication, since the buoys are being built by the Dutch company Bluewater in the United Arab Emirates.

“If the blockade continues until September, we have a problem,” Marín acknowledged, but anticipated that he has a plan B: bring a buoy from Latin America, with a higher cost and a different technological quality, but that speeds up the completion times of the project.

The VMOS was one of the first initiatives that presented its accession to the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), to protect disbursements of 2.9 billion dollars. The consortium obtained the highest project finance -financing applied to a project of Argentine history, granted by 14 banks and financial institutions, and its development generates employment for 3,108 people.

With future expansions through work on pumping stations, the pipeline will allow the transport of more than 700,000 barrels of oil per day from Vaca Muerta and enable exports of more than 17 billion dollars each year.

In this way, Argentina will be able to reach a record oil production close to 1.5 million barrels per day, almost double the current level. And that crude oil comes from the source rock with associated gas, which is the key to the other major export project: the liquefaction of natural gas and the processing of liquids.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is another of Marín’s “strong objectives” at YPF. The vision at the Puerto Madero-based oil company is that “the conflict in the Middle East helped” the project, given that the world no longer only looks at the cheapest sources, but also at energy security and the geographic diversity of fuel origin, with Argentina in a peaceful zone.

The Italian ENI and the Emirati XRG, partners of YPF, will buy a large part of the liquefied gas and associated liquids, while the Argentine oil company continues to explore sales contracts in Europe and Asia.

Likewise, the “Argentina LNG” consortium has been working on an expansion from the current 12 million metric tons per year (MTPA) to 18, seeking the incorporation of a fourth partner, which could be Saudi Aramco.

The intention is to accelerate the search for financing from the end of June, with JP Morgan and Banco Santander as main allies, and towards the end of the year make the final investment decision, for about 20,000 million dollars.