Argentina has opened the first stage of its shale gas pipeline from the evocatively named Vaca Muerta (‘Dead Cow’) shale formation to the province of Buenos Aires.

The South American country sits on the second largest unconventional gas reserves in the world, and the fourth largest for unconventional oil, but is a net energy importer (having registered a US$5 billion energy trade deficit in 2022), and tapping its reserves is something Argentina has understandably been pursuing.

The first stage of the new pipeline is currently capable of transporting 11 million cubic metres of gas per day; this is to double when additional compression infrastructure is installed. Economy Minister Sergio Massa said at the opening that the project is “the beginning of change in the economic and energy matrix of Argentina…We are no longer going to import gas in ships because we are going to use the gas from our subsoil.” The second stage of the project, which will go to tender in September this year, will extend the pipeline from Buenos Aires province to Santa Fe province in the north-east of the country.

Argentina hopes to become an energy exporter by 2025.