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YPF CEO Horacio Marin announced the signing of the agreement in a social media post on Thursday.
The CEO revealed in November last year that YPF will be joining the FLNG development.
Marin did not provide further details regarding the deal in the new announcement, but local media reports said that YPF signed a participation agreement to acquire a 15 percent interest in Southern Energy, a company which is planning to develop the FLNG project in Argentina.
The reports also say that YPF committed to supply 16.67 percent of the gas volumes to the project from its operations in Vaca Muerta.
Besides YPF, London-listed oil and gas firm Harbour Energy took a 15 percent stake in Southern Energy, while Argentina’s Pampa Energia holds a 20 percent stake in Southern Energy.
Moreover, PAE has a 40 percent stake and Golar owns a 10 percent stake in the development.
The FLNG project involves deploying Golar LNG’s floating liquefaction vessel, Hilli, in the San Matías Gulf, Río Negro province, alongside the construction of supporting infrastructure.
Also, the vessel will have a production capacity of 2.45 million tons per year (mtpa) of LNG, equivalent to 11.5 million cubic meters or 0.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.
With an estimated investment of $2.9 billion over the next 10 years, the FLNG project represents a strategic milestone to monetize Pampa’s Vaca Muerta reserves and position Argentina in the global LNG market.
Argentina LNG project
With this agreement, YPF continues to take concrete steps to make the Argentina LNG project a reality, Marin said.
“I am convinced that Argentina LNG is going to transform the country in the next 10 years and we will only be able to make it a reality if we join forces and focus on generating a project that can provide Argentina with more than $15 billion of annual income,” Marin said.
Last week, YPF signed a memorandum of understanding with Indian firms for the planned Argentina LNG export project.
According to YPF, the firm signed the MoU with GAIL, Oil India, and ONGC Videsh for the potential export of up to 10 million tons per year of LNG to India.
This MoU followed a deal with UK-based LNG giant Shell.
In December 2024, YPF and Shell signed a project development agreement (PDA) for the first phase of the Argentina LNG export project.
The PDA means that Shell will join the LNG project.
With Shell entering into the development of the first phase of the Argentina LNG Project, Petronas’ participation as a partner of YPF has come to an end.
YPF said at the time that the company and Shell will commit to mature the development of the first phase of the Argentina LNG project towards a decision to enter the front-end engineering and design (FEED) stage.
This week, Guillermo Francos, Argentina’s cabinet chief within President Javier Milei’s administration, said via his official X account that met with Marin to discuss the progress of the planned Argentina LNG project.
He said that YPF managed to close commercial agreements for up to 15 million tons per year of LNG following a successful tour in Asia.
Francos said the deals would translate into about $7 billion a year for Argentina in LNG exports.
Also, in the coming weeks, new sales contracts will be announced with European energy companies for up to 4 million tons of LNG, he said, without providing further details.
The first phase of the Argentina LNG project has a liquefaction capacity of 10 mtpa.
According to the Argentina LNG website, during its first phase, the project would have two floating liquefaction units with a production capacity of 10 mtpa.
The second phase includes the construction of a 10 mtpa onshore modular liquefaction plant, while the third phase entails an expansion of the onshore plant with new liquefaction trains for an additional 10 mtpa.