Adds context, details in paragraphs 3-7
By Marianna Parraga and Georgina McCartney
HOUSTON, Sept 18 - BP's Pan American Energy BPPAE.UL is looking to negotiate contracts with Asian consumers to allocate liquefied natural gas from a floating project in Argentina, Rodolfo Freyre, a company vice president, told the GasTech conference on Wednesday.
Pan American and marine infrastructure company Golar LNG GLNG.O in July signed a contract to deploy in Argentina a vessel that will be used to produce LNG off the South American country's coast, starting in mid-2027.
The vessel currently has a contract to operate in Cameroon, which will end in 2026, Freyre said. Pan American's floating project could inaugurate Argentina's LNG exports.
"We saw this opportunity that Golar had... so we started working hard with them. And we actually acted pretty quickly to try to sign a contract for a 20-year deal, expecting to have LNG production maybe by 2027," Freyre said.
Pan American set up talks this week in Houston with potential LNG buyers from several Asian countries, company sources said. A delegation from rival Argentine producer YPF YPFDm.BA last month traveled to India also seeking to negotiate LNG contracts, the company CEO said last week.
Oil and gas producers YPF, Petronas PETRA.UL, Tecpetrol and Pan American are progressing three projects that would turn Argentina, which sits on the world's second largest shale gas reserves, into a LNG exporter in the coming years. The three will require more than $60 billion in total investment.
The projects are expected to be driven by new regulation proposed by President Javier Milei's administration for large investments, including those to develop LNG.
"The RIGI (Promotional Regime for Large Investment) is basically a promotional benefit for stability. We worked a lot with the government to incorporate these type of things to make these projects feasible. Without it, I mean, I would say that there's no LNG, period," Freyre said.
The law is expected to secure LNG exports for up to 30 years without policy changes that could create obstacles, he added.
Milei's economic reforms have already reduced Argentina's energy subsidies by $2.7 billion this year while leaving an energy trade surplus of almost $3 billion, compared to deficits in previous years, Energy Secretary Eduardo Rodriguez Chirillo said in Houston last week.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga and Georgina McCartney in Houston
Editing by Peter Henderson and Lisa Shumaker)