Argentina's Rio Negro to launch tender for free-trade zone tied to LNG export hub

By Reuters News

By Eliana Raszewski and Lucila Sigal

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Argentina's Rio Negro province said on Thursday it will launch an international tender in November for a free-trade zone aimed at attracting industrial, logistics, and service companies around the country's planned liquefied natural gas export hub.

Argentine officials are in Paris this week taking part in an investment roadshow to attract foreign investment in the country's Vaca Muerta shale formation.

  • The free-trade zone is located near infrastructure planned for Argentina LNG, a project backed by state energy company YPF YPFDm.BA, Italy's Eni ENI.MI and XRG — the international investment arm of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company — to export LNG from Vaca Muerta.

  • The 432-hectare (1,067-acre) site at Punta Colorada, in Patagonia, is expected to benefit from proximity to planned LNG export facilities and pipelines.

  • The proposed concession is set to last for 30 years, with the possibility of a 10-year extension, Rio Negro regional authorities said.

  • LNG and crude oil will be transported to Rio Negro from Vaca Muerta in the neighboring province of Neuquen.

  • Rio Negro is also set to host export infrastructure linked to the Vaca Muerta Oil Sur (VMOS) pipeline project.

  • "In this area, we will have the oil transported by the pipelines serving the VMOS export terminal, and we will have both gas pipelines, the SESA pipeline operated by Southern Energy and the Argentina LNG pipeline," Governor Alberto Weretilneck told Reuters.

  • The tender will run through March and projects established in the zone would receive free-trade zone benefits and could also apply for Argentina's RIGI investment incentive program, which offers tax and regulatory advantages for investments above $200 million, Weretilneck said.

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