The Giant Gas Reserve That Could Have Eased Today’s Crisis

The Giant Gas Reserve That Could Have Eased Today’s Crisis

Argentina, home to the world’s second-largest shale gas deposit, cannot help gas-starved Europe, which is scrambling to obtain non-Russian natural gas after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In fact, Argentina cannot even help wean itself off its energy import dependence in the short term despite the huge resources at the Vaca Muerte shale.

The development of Vaca Muerta has hit various snags over the past half-decade, from perennial economic crises to global oil and gas crises and domestic foreign exchange limitations. Moreover, Argentina has failed to advance pipeline projects to take the gas out of Vaca Muerta to its neighbors first and to the global LNG market next.

Thus, the country holding one of the world’s single biggest shale gas deposits can’t do anything currently to alleviate the global natural gas crunch in a gas-starved market, in which Europe is outbidding Asia for LNG supply. Europe is attempting to reduce its dependence on Russian pipeline gas as Gazprom threatens to stop its supply to more customers who refuse to pay in rubles.