According to EIA, Argentina’s domestic natural gas production has been steadily increasing in the past three years, due to the increased production coming from the Neuquén Basin’s Vaca Muerta shale and tight gas play. Its production surpassed the 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in December 2018.
Specifically, the growth in production sparked a restart of natural gas exporting via pipeline to Chile and Brazil as well as the start of LNG exports. The first Argentinian LNG export cargo took place on June 6, departing from the Tango FLNG.
Moreover, production from Vaca Muerta equals to the 23% of Argentina’s overall gross natural gas production. Vaca Muerta shale formation has 308 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 16 billion barrels of oil and condensate of recoverable resources within 8.6 million acres.
From 2008, as Argentina became a natural gas importer, the country has imported natural gas by both pipeline and as LNG throughout the year. According to EIA, Argentina will likely continue importing LNG during cooler months until additional pipeline infrastructure is built to deliver growing shale production to major demand centres.
Because Argentina doesn’t have geologically suitable formations to serve as large-scale natural gas storage facilities, natural gas producers have to shut in surplus production to accommodate seasonal consumption patterns. Argentina is conducting feasibility studies to identify potential natural gas storage sites.
Argentina’s seasonal demand patterns—counter to countries in the Northern Hemisphere—allow Argentina to export LNG during months when major LNG consuming countries in Asia are importing more LNG.
