Southern Energy - floating LNG (Argentina LNG, Hilli phase)
Floating LNG project to export Vaca Muerta gas. Although the plant is in Río Negro, it monetizes Neuquén gas: it is key to the evacuation/monetization thesis for associated gas. ~6 MTPA with 2 vessels; first exports around end of 2027. The supply bottleneck was cleared: the San Matías pipeline (approved under RIGI, FID done) connects Tratayén with San Antonio Oeste to feed the plant.
How to supply it
what we have for a supplier, and how to request it
What we have on this project for a supplier
Who decides the purchase, who you invoice and where a new supplier registers.
Which lines each phase buys and when the window opens for each one.
Which they are, why it will need them and who could provide them.
Who they are, what each one does and how to sell to them.
All of this is surveyed and verified against its source. Crossed with what you sell —which of them your products suit, how to reach it and when— it is in your company report. Request the report
We cross what you manufacture or do against the 5 phases of this project and tell you which ones you fit into and when each one buys. Two pages, with the evidence behind them.
Where my company can get inThe project
what it is, the route, the owners, the works and the contractors
What it is and why it exists
Two vessels moored in the San Matías Gulf, off the Río Negro coast, that receive gas through a subsea pipeline, chill it until it turns liquid and load it onto carriers bound for Europe and Asia. There is no onshore plant: the factory is the ship. They are operated by Southern Energy, a company owned by Pan American Energy, YPF, Pampa, Harbour Energy and Golar, the shipping company providing the two floating units.
Vaca Muerta produces more gas than Argentina consumes, and there is no one to sell the surplus to: gas only travels far if it is liquefied. Liquefying on an already-built vessel instead of erecting an onshore plant saves years and billions, which is why the project starts with the Hilli Episeyo, already operating in Cameroon. What made it financeable was the package: the RIGI approval in 2025, two twenty-year export authorizations and an agreement with Río Negro freezing the tax regime for thirty. On that basis the vessel charter contracts were signed — twenty years, payable whether the ships operate or not.
Where it runs and how much it can move
Length 392.4 m, beam 61 m, draft 27 m. Two PRICO trains with two turbo-compressors per train. Storage of 147,000 m³ in 4 Moss-type spherical tanks. Inlet pressure of 50 to 70 barg. Dry-dock conversion of an LNG carrier launched in 2004, inserting a new hull section amidships. It is the Golar FLNG Mark II concept, an evolution of the Mark I developed for the Hilli and the Gimi verif May 4, 2026 ↗
Installed capacity of 52,500 kW. At the start it compresses the gas arriving from the General San Martín pipeline, taken at the outlet of the San Antonio Oeste compressor plant, at a pressure of 40 kg/cm²g guaranteed by Transportadora de Gas del Sur S.A. verif May 4, 2026 ↗
A 30-inch pipeline, design pressure of 80 kg/cm²g and roughly 14 to 15 km long, buried, carbon steel, with three-layer coating and cathodic protection. It carries the gas from the head facility to a point on the coast (tie-in), with an anchor block, an insulating joint and a sectioning valve verif May 4, 2026 ↗
Two pipelines roughly 5.5 km long and 20 and 24 inches in diameter, carrying the gas from the coast to the mooring and supply device for the FLNG units, installed on the seabed at a depth of 35 meters verif May 4, 2026 ↗
At Puerto San Antonio Este, to support the FLNG units and the LNG carriers verif May 4, 2026 ↗
A Single Point Mooring (SPM) device of the SSY type (Submerged Swivel and Yoke): a piled mooring base with a rotating turret and a yoke arm connected at two points to the bow of the FLNG by twin chains, allowing the vessel to rotate 360° around the base. The first unit, the Hilli Episeyo, stays moored some 4.5-7 km offshore throughout the project's operating life verif May 4, 2026 ↗
Who owns it
Southern Energy S.A. (SESA): Pan American Energy, YPF, Pampa Energía, Harbour Energy and Golar LNG prob Apr 14, 2026 ↗
What other projects it links to
What this project enables or needs outside the province, and through what mechanism.
Río NegroThe Dedicated Pipeline of San Matías Pipeline S.A verif May 4, 2026 ↗+
is this project's continuous supply infrastructure
The works, milestone by milestone
Río Negro's Boletín Oficial publishes Decreto 618/26, which regulates the Río Negro supplier regime and creates an exception route for newly established companies through a Relocation Plan with milestones at 24 months.
The Ministerio de Economía approves the RIGI accession of San Matías Pipeline S.A., owner of the dedicated pipeline that supplies this project, through Resolución 873/2026: USD 1,300 million of investment and an accession date of 1 Jun 2026.
The award of the terminal's marine services for 10 years to the consortium of Meridian Transportes Marítimos and Adani Harbour International FZCO is published: USD 70 million, 4 high-power tugs, 1 AHTS and 1 crew transfer vessel, with exports expected from 2027.
Río Negro's Boletín Oficial publishes Ley 5849, which ratifies the Acta Acuerdo with Southern Energy and San Matías Pipeline, with the full Acta as an annex.
Río Negro and Southern Energy sign the export agreement: an Acta Acuerdo on tax regime and regulatory stability with Southern Energy S.A. and San Matías Pipeline S.A., ratified by provincial Decreto 439/2026.
Golar LNG takes the final investment decision on the MK II on 6 Aug 2025 and on 23 Oct 2025 announces the conditions precedent of the 20-year charter as satisfied: 3.5 million tonnes a year of nameplate capacity, USD 400 million of annual EBITDA for the owner and USD 8,000 million of 20-year backlog, for this second unit alone.
Río Negro's Boletín Oficial publishes together Ley 5804 on local labor, the 80/20 rule, and Ley 5805 on Río Negro local content, which requires 60% of contracts: the corridor's local-capture package came out in the same issue.
Resolución 353/2025 of the Secretaría de Energía: second Free Export Authorization, for the MK II, valid from 1 Sep 2028 to 31 Aug 2058. The stability guarantee is made conditional on completion of the dedicated pipeline, whose commercial operation is estimated for May 2028.
The Ministerio de Economía approves the accession of Southern Energy S.A. (CUIT 30-71858062-1) to the RIGI through Resolución 559/2025, with approved output of 1.5 to 2.2 million tonnes of LNG a year depending on gas supply availability.
Golar LNG takes the final investment decision on the 20-year charter of the Hilli Episeyo and signs the definitive agreements for the MK II. The ownership split it declares is Pan American Energy 30%, YPF 25%, Pampa Energía 20%, Harbour Energy 15% and Golar LNG 10%.
The Secretaría de Energía grants Southern Energy the first Free LNG Export Authorization through Resolución 165/2025, valid from 1 Jul 2027 to 30 Jun 2057.
What it leaves in Río Negro
jobs, works, taxes, promises and the outlook
How many jobs it creates
1,900 direct and indirect jobs during the construction stage, mainly of local origin prob Aug 20, 2026 ↗
The works that stay behind
The infrastructure that stays standing once the works end, with its size and its source.
Dedicated pipeline from Tratayén to the Río Negro coast
ProductiveSan Matías Pipeline S.A., which operates it with its own RIGI accession. It is fixed gas transport infrastructure that outlives the vessels and stays as installed capacity to move gas out of the basin.
Resolución 353/2025 makes the stability guarantee of the second export authorization conditional on completion of the dedicated pipeline of approximately 470 km and 36 inches, with capacity close to 28 million cubic meters a day and commercial operation estimated for May 2028.
Two compressor stations for gas pressure at the vessel
Powerstations
The supply system for the floating units; they are fixed onshore facilities that remain for as long as the terminal operates.
The consortium itself states that the project requires building «dos estaciones compresoras para asegurar una presión óptima de gas en el buque», in addition to the interconnection to the trunk pipelines and the onshore pipeline to the coast.
Onshore pipeline from the trunk interconnection to the coast
Productivecomplete onshore pipeline, from the interconnection to the mooring point
The terminal's supply system; it stays on Río Negro soil as transport capacity towards the coast.
Among the works the consortium states are needed are «un gasoducto terrestre hasta la costa» and «dos gasoductos submarinos que se conecten con ambos buques». The list is the issuer's own and carries no dimensions.
Soft yoke mooring systems of the two units
Productivesystems anchored to the seabed, with their piles
The mooring point stays in the gulf for as long as the operation lasts. Its flip side is what does NOT stay: the design removes the need for a jetty, so this project leaves behind no berthing infrastructure.
The soft yoke mooring systems supplied by NOV let the two units rotate around a single mooring point, aligning with environmental forces, in a solution that removes the need for fixed infrastructure such as jetties. It is the first application of this technology in Argentine waters.
What it already pays in taxes and royalties
Item by item, with the rule that sets it. A rate is not the same as what is collected, nor what is received the same as what is projected.
5%Community Contribution (one-off) — the part payable by Southern Energy S.A. verif May 4, 2026 ↗+
Variable Community Contribution (annual) — payable by Southern Energy S.A. only verif May 4, 2026 ↗+
USD 1,220,000Fee for special use of the coastal public domain, water royalties and fee for use and protection of water bodies verif May 4, 2026 ↗+
Operational Control and Oversight Fee for Hydrocarbon Transport verif May 4, 2026 ↗+
Environmental inspection, control and oversight fee verif May 4, 2026 ↗+
Turnover tax and stamp duty: exempt, and the turnover tax exemption also reaches direct suppliers, only for the start-up works verif May 4, 2026 ↗+
Territorial Development Contribution: exempt verif May 4, 2026 ↗+
Who promised what
Who promised what, with a date and with how to check it. We record them whatever the political colour.
not startedSouthern Energy S.A. · That local suppliers provide 50% of the goods and services required during the project's operation prob Aug 20, 2026 ↗+
not startedSouthern Energy S.A. · Exports of more than USD 20,000 million between 2027 and 2035 prob Aug 20, 2026 ↗+
not startedBen Fitzgerald · Leaving local capability installed in the South Atlantic, and not just delivering the two facilities prob Jan 2026 ↗+
What changes in Río Negro if the project works
The first vessel starts in the last four months of 2027 and the second at the end of 2028. From then on, the San Matías Gulf exports Argentine gas every day for twenty years.
What changes on the Río Negro coast is not who holds the export license: it is that an industry appears which did not exist there. A vessel moored at a depth of 35 meters is not serviced from an office — it needs tugs, diving, subsea inspection, crew changes every 28 days two and a half hours' sailing from San Antonio Oeste, catering, spare parts and maintenance, and it needs all of that around the clock for the two decades the contract runs. That market has no owner in the province today.
And there is a window before that one. The subsea works and the assembly of the mooring systems demand trades the country barely trains for: saturation diving, underwater welding, subsea trenching, offshore heavy lifting. They are the first to be contracted and the ones with the least local competition.
For a Río Negro SME the way in is written into two laws: Ley 5805 requires 60% of contracting to go to registered Río Negro suppliers, and Ley 5804 requires 80% of staff to be Argentine with two years' residence in the province. Both also reach contractors and subcontractors, which is where the buying actually happens. And the Agreement extends the Turnover Tax exemption to direct suppliers of the infrastructure works, not just to the project owner.
Outlook to 2027-2029, built on the verified data of this page and our analytical framework. We also publish what would invalidate it.
What could stall it
risks and how to track them
What could stall it
Each risk, with who or what could trigger it.
regulatorioThe export stability guarantee is conditioned by the very act that grants it: if the pipeline is not in operation, it falls awayThe national Secretaría de Energía, through art. 2 of Resolución 353/2025, on report IF-2025-88948099 of the Dirección Nacional de Economía y Regulación verif Aug 25, 2025 ↗+
logisticoThe vessel arrives before its pipeline, and supply in the interval depends on surpluses whose firm capacity nobody has publishedThe schedule stated by the consortium itself: a 20-year contract for the Hilli Episeyo from the second half of 2027 against the pipeline's commercial start-up estimated in May 2028 verif May 5, 2025 ↗+
judicialA preventive environmental damage action before the federal courts seeking suspension of the worksThe Asociación Argentina de Abogados/as Ambientalistas and the Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, with a filing in March 2026, invoking proximity to Península Valdés prob Mar 2026 ↗+
judicialThe merits of the law that enabled activity in the gulf were never judgedThe plaintiffs' appeal to the Supreme Court, after Río Negro's Superior Tribunal de Justicia dismissed the action for lack of standing prob May 10, 2023 ↗+
precioExposure to the LNG price within the vessels' charter formula itselfThe charter formula with Golar LNG, which cuts the hire if the FOB price falls from USD 7.5 to a floor of USD 6 per MMBtu verif May 4, 2026 ↗+
tecnicoThe mooring system is on the critical path: it is manufactured in Europe and needs a specialized vessel to installThe supply chain of the SSY-type SPM mooring, manufactured abroad, with import customs challenges declared by the project itself verif May 4, 2026 ↗+
regulatorioThe RIGI investment deadlines can be missed, and the act sets them with a figure and a dateArts. 3 and 4 of Resolución 559/2025, which set the 20% milestone in the first two years from notification and the 31 Dec 2035 deadline verif May 5, 2025 ↗+
socialThe legal floor for local contracting may not be met, and the gap between registered and contracted companies is already largeThe regime of Ley 5805, which requires Obligated Parties to invite and to prefer Río Negro suppliers, with the provincial Register measuring the gap verif Sep 1, 2025 ↗+
ambientalChallenge to the public participation procedure of the public hearingsThe Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, which argues the hearings work as a «mero trámite administrativo», invoking ILO Convention 169 and the Escazú Agreement verif May 4, 2026 ↗+
The permits the works need, and where each one stands.
LNG Free Export Authorization Certificate issued under art. 1 of Resolución 353/2025 of the Energy Secretariat, detailed in Annex IF-2025-89103464-APN-SSCL#MEC. Art. 3 further requires compliance with the obligations in subsections a) to d) of art. 6 and a) and b) of art. 8 of Annex I of Resolución 145/2025 of the Energy Secretariat verif Aug 25, 2025 ↗
The published Environmental Impact Statement could not be located. What is on record is the resolution CALLING the public hearing (RESOL-2024-707-E-GDERNE-SAYCC#SGG) and that the hearing for the second unit was held on 16 September 2025 unconf May 4, 2026
How to tell whether it is advancing
Observable facts that show whether the project is advancing, and where to look for each.
eventoThe re-tendering of the San Antonio Este Port concession+
eventoThe act approving the Environmental Impact Declaration, with its number+
trimestralThe project's first contract awarded to a company listed in the Río Negro Suppliers Register+
trimestralThe launch and yard departure of the second unit+
eventoCommercial start-up of the dedicated pipeline+
How we verified this
the act, the gaps and the sources
The RIGI act, in detail
EX-2024-127875156- -APN-SCEYM#MEC verif May 5, 2025 ↗
Apr 28, 2025 verif May 5, 2025 ↗
5 May 2025, notice 28261/25, signed by Luis Andrés Caputo verif May 5, 2025 ↗
The act’s articles, in detail
6 facts on the commitment
20 % of the minimum investment amount, over the first two years verif May 5, 2025 ↗
The recitals set out the amounts committed for that milestone: USD 105,000,000 in the first year and USD 354,000,000 in the second, adding up to USD 459,000,000, «exceeding twenty percent (20%) of the minimum investment amount» verif May 5, 2025 ↗
6.878 USD million — total investment declared by the applicant verif May 5, 2025 ↗
2.825 USD million — computable assets of stages 1 and 2 under the RIGI verif May 5, 2025 ↗
Southern Energy S.A., tax ID 30-71858062-1, registered at Leandro N. Alem 1180, Floor 9, Buenos Aires City. verif May 5, 2025 ↗
The Energy Secretariat of the Ministry of Economy, or whomever it delegates to, as the area with specific competence, for the oversight and control of compliance with ley 27.742 and its implementing rules (art. 8 of the resolution) verif May 5, 2025 ↗
How much it commits to invest, and how it pays for it
2 facts on the investment
Evidence an investment in computable assets equal to or above twenty percent (20%) of the minimum investment amount set out in art. 40 subsection c of the Annex to Decreto 749/24 (art. 3) verif May 5, 2025 ↗
31 December 2035, under point (iii) of article 177 of ley 27.742 (art. 4) verif May 5, 2025 ↗
What the regime gives in return
5 benefits of the regime
A Long-Term Strategic Export Project in the «Oil and Gas» sector, under art. 1 of the resolution. Art. 7 instructs the RIGI Coordination Unit to register it in the Registry of Long-Term Strategic Export Projects created by art. 2 of annex I of decreto 749/24 verif May 5, 2025 ↗
Art. 10 notifies ARCA of the creation of a special tax ID for the project vehicle and of the application of the tax and customs incentives in chapter IV of title VII of ley 27.742 verif May 5, 2025 ↗
Art. 11 notifies the Central Bank of the application of the foreign exchange incentives in chapter V of title VII of ley 27.742 verif May 5, 2025 ↗
Art. 5 approves the list of goods and services the project vehicle may import under the exemption in art. 190 of ley 27.742, in file RE-2025-23485922-APN-DTD#JGM. ⚠️ The list itself is not published in the notice verif May 5, 2025 ↗
Art. 6 accepts the arbitration clause proposed by Southern Energy S.A. and its shareholders, filed in file RE-2025-23486477-APN-DTD#JGM verif May 5, 2025 ↗
What we could not confirm
There are 17 in this project. Each says why it could not be confirmed and what it would take to close it.
H-01The value of the Unit of Value used to calculate the environmental fees of art. 4.5 of the Acta+
The Acta sets the coefficients and the formulas in UV, but does not publish the value of the UV, so none of the four components can be converted into pesos with what is available
H-02The peso amount of the Control and Oversight Fee on Southern Energy's pipelines+
Both factors are there (420,000 m² and $215 per m²) but the cost is adjusted annually by CPI and the Acta sets neither the base nor the date of the first adjustment. Multiplying them today would mean presenting our own calculation as a fact
H-03Whether any municipality has joined Ley 5849 and whether the monitoring committee that conditions the transfer of funds to San Antonio Oeste has been appointed+
Art. 6 of Ley 5849 only INVITES municipalities to join, and art. 4 conditions the transfer on approval by the Provincial Executive «a través de la comisión de seguimiento que se designe por reglamentación». The act appointing it was not located
H-04The scope of the tax benefit at MUNICIPAL level+
The Province only undertakes to «realizar sus mejores esfuerzos» and to «instar a los municipios a adoptar medidas análogas». It is a best-efforts obligation: the provincial saving is firm, the municipal one is not guaranteed
H-05The list of specific certifications required to supply the project (ISO, API, IRAM, IERIC, offshore approvals)+
The provincial register asks generically for «habilitaciones y certificaciones pertinentes» without listing them, CoreMarine's note explicitly says it does not detail the requirements, and Golar's generic suppliers page did not open
H-06The supplier development plan filed under the RIGI+
It exists with identifier RE-2025-07079097, required by art. 47 item l of Decreto 749/2024, but it is not published
H-07The project's permanent OPERATING employment, and the breakdown of construction employment by trade and by locality+
The only sealed figure is the construction one, and it comes from the consortium's corporate website. The figure of 850 jobs circulating in the press could not be verified in any primary source, and no source separates Southern Energy's headcount from San Matías Pipeline's
H-08The number and date of the Environmental Impact Declaration approving the Environmental Impact Study of the two floating units+
What does exist is the resolution CONVENING the public hearing (RESOL-2024-707-E-GDERNE-SAYCC#SGG). The complete file is consulted in person at Colón 275, 2nd floor, Viedma, and no published Declaration was located. ⚠️ On the Neuquén side the gap is measured, not assumed: on the San Matías Pipeline, official gazettes 4540 to 4604 were read, covering continuously from 30 Jan 2026 to 18 Aug 2026, searching for the file number and the project's names: a single gazette matches, and it is the hearing notice already known. THE METHOD IS CONTROLLED —the same sweep does find the terms in gazette 4544— so the zero is not a false negative of the search. THE CONSEQUENCE: Golar LNG states to the market that environmental approval was obtained in both provinces, and that statement is NOT backed by a published act. It may be true and simply unpublished; what cannot be done is cite it as an act of the State. ⚠️ What this zero does NOT prove: that the resolution does not exist (it can be notified to the applicant without being published), nor anything about Río Negro, which is another jurisdiction with another procedure and where the sweep was not carried out.
H-09The Annex to Resolución 353/2025, with the detail of the export authorization (volumes and conditions)+
The Boletín Oficial notice publishes the Annex as a separate download (IF-2025-89103464-APN-SSCL#MEC, download identifier 7446535) and the /pdf/download_anexo endpoint returns HTTP 500 to a scripted POST with all three parameter combinations tried. It is a limitation of automated access, not of the document: the file exists and is published
H-10The firm transport capacity supplying the first vessel between its arrival and the pipeline's start-up+
Resolución 559/2025 explains the mechanism —surpluses from the Gasoducto General San Martín offset by additional volumes from Vaca Muerta— but does not publish the contracted firm capacity in figures, and neither of the two investigations found it
H-11The procedural status of the two court cases: the preventive environmental damage action of March 2026 and the 2023 appeal to the Supreme Court+
No subsequent ruling was located in open sources in either case. Of the 2026 action there is only the plaintiffs' filing, and of the 2023 case the only record, from the press, is that the plaintiffs took the case to the Supreme Court
H-12The degree of compliance with the 20% investment milestone in computable assets over the first two years+
The act sets the obligation and the committed amounts (USD 105,000,000 and USD 354,000,000) but no official publication of actual compliance was located
H-13The project's PHYSICAL PHASE, with open primary evidence+
The physical phase is recorded as «under construction», but with a probable seal and on a single thread of evidence: the note saying the first year's supply arrives through a fifteen-kilometer link «already completed». A completed link is work carried out, and that is enough to state that construction started — not to say how far it has advanced. What still lacks primary backing is the bulk of the project: the vessels, the mooring and the subsea works, which sources still describe in the future tense. The evidence in circulation (pipe unloading at the port, more than 400 people working, a «60% progress») comes from press and press releases, and that 60% appears with the same wording in three outlets with neither numerator nor denominator. There is no progress report or act declaring it.
H-14The official calculation model behind the Province's projection of «more than USD 490 million over 20 years»+
The gap between the USD 91 million in the coverage of 14 Apr 2026 and the «more than USD 490 million» in the press release of 30 Apr 2026 is not a research gap but an arithmetic one: the roughly 399 million of difference matches the Variable Contribution of art. 5.2 of the Acta at its top band sustained for twenty years (USD 20,000,000 a year times twenty gives 400), and 91 plus 400 gives 491, which is exactly what «more than USD 490 million» claims. What remains unconfirmed is that the Province did THAT sum: no source publishes the model, nor the index band it assumes, nor whether it counts twenty full years of variable contribution even though the second vessel does not arrive before late 2028 and the first payment falls due before 28 Feb 2029. Nor can the make-up of the fixed 55 million be verified: the Acta allows 24.4 to be reconstructed —coastal fee and water royalties, USD 1,220,000 a year— and leaves the rest in fees whose factors it sets but does not convert into dollars. The reconciliation is published as our own estimate in the dossier, never as a fact.
H-15Whether the port logistics base that supplies the operation exists, and who builds it+
This is the block where the two investigations contradict each other head-on and neither opened a document that settles it: one lists it as a permanent port facility that stays behind, and the other quotes the consortium's top executive saying in June 2026 that the base «does not exist yet» and that the company «is building» one. The difference between declared and built decides whether it is infrastructure that stays or works still unawarded, and therefore whether it is an open contracting window.
H-16How many compressor plants remain in total and who owns each+
The consortium declares TWO compressor stations within the FLNG project's scope, and that has been recorded. What does not close is the system total: separately, the expansion of the Gasoducto General San Martín plant —the one supplying the first vessel in the initial stage— is attributed to a contractor, and another compressor plant is placed on the dedicated pipeline's route, which is another owner's work. It could not be determined whether the San Martín expansion is one of the two the consortium declares or a third set of works.
H-17Whether Bahía Grande is an effective buyer for THIS project, and with what scope+
No open source places it within the scope of the LNG terminal. On this site it appears as the owner of an ocean-going tug, the BG Warrior, in installation work, with no source confirming it. That is why it is not named among the buyers of this project
We look at what your company does and tell you whether we see a sign that it fits this market, with the evidence behind it. If we do not see one, we say so too and name the condition that would change it. One page as a dated PDF, within 48 working hours.
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Frequently asked questions
How much LNG will it produce?The «~6 MTPA» often published is the sum of the two vessels' capacities, not the range set by the accession act thesisverif+
The RIGI accession act, issued when the project had a single floating unit, approves a production capacity of between 1.5 and 2.2 million tonnes a year, «dependiendo la disponibilidad de abastecimiento de gas». The second unit, the MK II, was added later as an expansion of the same project. The nameplate capacities of the two vessels are 2.45 million tonnes a year for the Hilli Episeyo and 3.5 for the MK II, according to the Acta Acuerdo with Río Negro. verif ↗
How much does the project invest?It depends which magnitude you look at, and they are two different numbers from the same act: declared total investment is USD 6,878 million and the regime's computable assets —the figure we publish in the fact sheet— are USD 2,825 millionverif+
The difference, USD 4,053 million, is nobody's error: they are two different magnitudes often used as synonyms. ↗
What does the RIGI require in exchange for the benefits?Evidencing, in the first two years from notification, an investment in computable assets of at least 20%verif+
The recitals give the amounts committed for that milestone: USD 105 million in the first year and USD 354 million in the second, adding up to USD 459 million. ↗
Who owns it?Southern Energy S.Aprob+
(CUIT 30-71858062-1) is a consortium of five: Pan American Energy, YPF, Pampa Energía, Harbour Energy and Golar LNG. The same five stand behind San Matías Pipeline S.A., owner of the pipeline that feeds the plant — which is not the same company, but its transport supplier. ↗
What does it leave in Río Negro, and what does a supplier pay?Whether it pays to sell to it in the construction stage or in the operating stage is decided by a limit on the tax exemption thesisverif+
The Acta Acuerdo ratified by Ley 5849 sets a one-off community contribution, USD 36 million between the two companies, plus a variable annual one tied to the LNG FOB index, of up to USD 20 million a year adjustable for US inflation, on top of the coastal fee, water royalties and two oversight fees. Turnover tax and stamp duty are exempt for both companies. The turnover tax exemption also reaches their direct suppliers, but only for their part in the works needed to install and start up the project: outside those works, it does not cover them. verif ↗
How many jobs does it create?The consortium declares 1,900 direct and indirect jobs during construction, «principalmente de origen local»prob+
prob The page that gives that figure describes the vessels project: the interconnection, the compressor stations, the onshore pipeline, the subsea lines and the moorings. That is why we read it as a figure for that project and not for the San Matías Pipeline, which belongs to another company and has its own figure. thesis That page does not publish the permanent operating headcount or the breakdown by trade or locality. ↗
Is construction under way?Yesprob+
Until August 2026 everything published described the works in the future tense. The first finished works of this project are the fifteen-kilometer link from the San Martín pipeline, which the August 2026 coverage reports as finished. The pipes that arrived at the port of San Antonio Este belong to the dedicated pipeline, which is the work of another company, San Matías Pipeline. The Hilli Episeyo left Cameroon for a shipyard in Singapore, where the new mooring system is being fitted, and its commercial operation is committed for the second half of 2027; the second vessel arrives in 2028. ↗
Official sources
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