Argentina’s plans to lure investors to finance shale oil and gas infrastructure can withstand short-term political risk, according the country’s energy chief, Daniel González. President Javier Milei’s sweeping market-oriented reforms over the past two years have helped shale producers and transporters access global credit, including a signature project-finance deal for a pipeline to export crude. But after voters in Argentina’s biggest province took the wind out of Milei’s sails in a September 7 election, and gave a boost to the leftist opposition, markets have sold off and the country’s risk premium has jumped. “When you build a pipeline for the next 20 or 30 years, you’re not looking at a provincial election last week,” González said on the sidelines of an event in Buenos Aires. Argentine shale investors need future governments to “maintain free-market policies,” Ana Simonato, Chevron Corp’s country manager in Argentina said this week at a separate Buenos Aires oil conference.