Meloni and Milei reaffirm their ultra alliance to produce and export liquefied gas.

RomeBefore it exploded the war in Ukraine, almost 40% of all gas consumed in Italy came from Russia. But the war and sanctions imposed by the Kremlin forced the transalpine country to find alternative sources of supply. After Libya and Algeria, with which Rome signed several gas agreements, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Argentine President Javier Milei signed a memorandum this Friday to advance a project that will allow the production and export of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

"I feel 75% Italian," said Milei on his last official visit to the country of his ancestors. in December 2024On that occasion, the Latin American leader was one of the guests of honor at Atreju, the annual celebration of Brothers of Italy, the prime minister's party. Meloni wanted to thank him for the visit granting him Italian nationality.

The strong ideological harmony that Milei and Meloni, leaders of the international ultra movement led by Donald Trump, have always shown has been decisive in the signing of an important commercial agreement between the Italian oil company ENI and the Argentine YPF, which will allow the production and export of gas by sea.

Specifically, the project will promote the production of LNG from the formation of non-renewable hydrocarbons. conventional Vaca Muerta, the world's second largest unconventional gas field, which extends some 30,000 square kilometers across four provinces in south-central Argentina, as well as its transportation and export valued at $100 billion over the next 20 years, according to the Argentine oil company.

Three days in Israel

The agreement reached between Rome and Buenos Aires refers to an initial phase of the project, the objective of which is to develop infrastructure for the extraction, transportation, and liquefaction of gas. Several companies will participate in the plan, and in the case of ENI, the Italian oil company will intervene with two LNG ships with a capacity of 6 million tons per year each.

The memorandum signed this Friday in the presence of ENI CEO Claudio Descalzi and YPF CEO Horacio Marín is a project development agreement, a preliminary step to the signing of the final investment decision, which could be finalized before the end of the year, according to Mar.

During the meeting, Meloni and Milei also adopted a bilateral collaboration agreement, announced during the Italian Prime Minister's visit to Buenos Aires last year, with the aim of "boosting" the relationship between the two countries "by identifying specific objectives," according to an official statement.

Rome was the first stop on the Argentine president's European tour in the coming days. He will also travel to Madrid to participate in an economic forum on cryptocurrencies and will travel to Nice to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron. But before that, this Saturday, Milei will be received at the Vatican by Pope Leo XIV, which will be the first official meeting between the American pontiff and the Argentine head of state. The tour will conclude next week with a three-day visit to Israel, a country with which he has strengthened ties since taking office in December 2023.