In the most important private Argentine infrastructure project in decades, VMOS S.A. has secured a $2 billion syndicated secured term loan facility to finance the development of the Vaca Muerta Sur Pipeline project. This transaction is the largest commercial loan for an infrastructure project in Argentine history and one of the top five oil and gas financings in Latin America. VMOS made the initial $240 million drawdown on July 14.
This financing is hugely significant for Argentina, the wider Latin American region and the global energy markets, and represents the reopening of the international project finance market after years in which that market was closed to Argentina. It is also the first financing of a significant project that utilizes Argentina’s new investment promotion regime, the “Incentive Framework for Large Investments” (Régimen de Incentivos para Grandes Inversiones or RIGI).
The project, which is under active construction, aims to turn Argentina into a global energy export powerhouse. It involves the construction of a 437-kilometer oil pipeline connecting Allen in Western Argentina to Punta Colorada in the Río Negro province on Argentina’s Atlantic coast. The pipeline is already the largest oil transportation infrastructure project in Argentina in the last 20 years. The financing is expected to provide 70 percent of the capital for the project, with the remaining 30 percent contributed by VMOS’s shareholders.
VMOS S.A. is a special-purpose midstream pipeline company owned by a consortium of Argentine companies holding interests in the Vaca Muerta shale oil fields, including YPF S.A., Pan American Energy, S.L., Vista Energy Argentina S.A.U., Pampa Energía S.A., Pluspetrol S.A., Chevron Argentina S.R.L., Shell Argentina S.A., Tecpetrol S.A. and Gas y Petroleo de Neuquén S.A.
The S&C team advising VMOS S.A. on the transaction included Sergio Galvis, Nikolaos Andronikos, Benjamin Kent, Virginia Cueva, Andrew Brod, Michael Anderson, Sergio Garrido Vallespí and Sam Fineberg. Eric Wang and Alexei Owen advised on U.S. tax matters.