Argentina tenders Vaca Muerta gas pipeline in bid to cut imports and clear glut

摘要

Argentina’s energy ministry has launched a tender for the construction and operation of a new gas pipeline from the prolific Vaca Muerta shale play to Buenos Aires, in the hope of further reducing gas imports during peak winter periods and alleviating gas gluts in low-demand summer months. The government said the new pipeline will have a minimum capacity of 15 MMcm/d, which could later increase to 40 MMcm/d. The first 570-km segment is expected to be completed before the 2021 southern hemisphere winter. A second leg is expected in 2024, running 470 km from Salliquelo to San Nicolas in Buenos Aires province – home to the nation’s largest private sector gas consumers, including power producers and residential users.