Argentina's government reached a $540 million deal with development bank CAF for the extension of natural gas pipelines and related infrastructure linked to the country's Vaca Muerta basin, Economy Minister Sergio Massa announced on Wednesday.

The infrastructure plan, expected to be approved in March, aims to boost a pair of gas pipeline projects — La Carlota-Tio Pujio and Reversal del Norte —as well as build compression plants, Massa wrote in a post on Twitter.

"With these projects we will be able to supply the entire north with gas from Vaca Muerta and increase the possibilities of gas export volumes to Chile and Brazil," he added in another post.

Vaca Muerta is a huge shale formation located in the Patagonian province of Neuquen, and seen as key to Argentina's push to grow its economy while lessening reliance on expensive energy imports.