Argentina's state-controlled oil company YPF has formally applied to enrol its Argentina LNG venture in the country's Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), a framework created under the Ley Bases law that offers long-term legal, tax and foreign exchange guarantees to attract overseas capital. The project, developed with Italy's Eni and the UAE's XRG — the international arm of Abu Dhabi's state oil company ADNOC — envisages $51 billion in total spending to extract gas from the Vaca Muerta ("Dead Cow") shale formation in Neuquén province and export it as liquefied natural gas via two floating liquefaction units moored off the Patagonian coast of Río Negro from 2031, with combined initial capacity of 12 million tonnes a year. The scheme is projected to generate nearly $10 billion in annual export revenues over two decades and support up to 40,000 jobs at peak construction, making it the largest investment proposal yet submitted under RIGI and a potential turning point for Argentina's ambitions as a global energy exporter.