McDermott International Inc. has been awarded a sizeable contract by Argentina-based YPF SA on July 19 to provide pre-FEED services for a five million tonnes per annum (MTPA) LNG liquefaction facility, with a potential expansion to 10 MTPA, at the Vaca Muerta Shale field in Argentina.

The scope of work is a continuation of a previous conceptual study developed for the YPF LNG Export Facility in Argentina under a contract in 2018. McDermott’s London office will provide engineering services while the Houston office will perform project management and estimation services.

“The award of this Pre-FEED project is a testimony of McDermott’s technical expertise in LNG and our successful partnership with YPF over the years,” Mark Coscio, McDermott’s senior vice president for North, Central and South America, said. “Our experience as the EPC contractor for the Peru LNG Facility in which YPF was involved–combined with McDermott’s modularization capabilities–were key factors that made us uniquely qualified to win and execute this contract.”

The project will promote the development of the Vaca Muerta Shale field in The Neuquen region Argentina.

Work on the project will begin immediately, and the contract award will be reflected in McDermott’s second-quarter 2019 backlog.

McDermott defines a sizeable contract as between $1 million and $50 million.