
Argentina has secured financing of $689 million from Brazilian state development bank BNDES for the second stage of a crucial natural gas pipeline in the huge Vaca Muerta shale region, energy secretary Flavia Royon said on Monday.
The pipeline, which will hugely increase the country's gas transport capacity, will help Argentina "to achieve energy self-sufficiency, deepen regional exports and develop LNG (liquefied natural gas) projects," Royon told business leaders in the capital Buenos Aires.