The Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline, which will change Argentina's energy matrix, will be inaugurated on 9 July.

It will connect the Vaca Muerta field in Patagonia, one of the world's largest shale gas deposits, with the rest of the country.

This week the filling of the sector that covers the border between the provinces of Río Negro and La Pampa was completed.

The company Energía Argentina, in charge of the project, assures that it will transform the country for the next 25 years.

Once operational, the pipeline will save some 4 billion dollars a year in fuel imports, sources say.

The pipe consists of more than 47,000 12-metre-long, 36-inch-diameter pipes and is 573 kilometers long.