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Eni announced the signing of the binding joint development agreement (JDA) in a statement on Thursday.
This follows a non-binding deal the three firms announced in November 2025.
Eni said the JDA marks another milestone for the project, establishing the workplan for the parties to progress through the next stage of development.
Under the agreement, the partners will commence front-end engineering design (FEED) and related activities, including engineering, technical structuring and key commercial and financing workstreams.
Eni noted that this large-scale integrated gas and liquefaction project will unlock Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale basin and help position the country as a long-term global LNG supplier.
The LNG project is expected to deliver 12 mtpa of LNG capacity, via two floating LNG facilities with a capacity of 6 mtpa each.
Eni signed the final technical project description with YPF in October 2025 for this phase of the latter’s Argentina LNG export project.
This agreement followed the heads of agreement signed by the two companies in June the same year.
The partners plan to reach a final investment decision (FID) during the second half of 2026.
Up to 30 million mt
YPF and several other companies are developing the large-scale Argentina LNG export project, with a capacity of up to 30 million mt.
Argentina’s Southern Energy, owned by Pan American Energy, YPF, Pampa Energia, Harbour Energy, and Golar LNG, took a final investment decision on the second floating LNG production unit in August last year.
SESA will install two converted FLNGs owned by Golar LNG in Argentina.
In December 2025, UK-based LNG giant Shell decided not to participate in the 10 mtpa phase of the YPF-led Argentina LNG project for which it signed a project development agreement in December 2024.
Moreover, YPF and the government of the province of Río Negro recently signed a framework agreement establishing a regulatory and institutional cooperation framework to promote the development of the Argentina LNG project.