In the midst of the worst gas supply crisis that Argentina has experienced in many years, the state-owned Enarsa put out to tender the acquisition of more liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels to literally get through the winter and took the total purchases not only amounted to 28 shipments, but to a value of just over 600 million dollars. Furthermore, he took a rabbit out of the barn and It will take advantage of an office that was put out to tender last year, but had not been used.
Total There were three bidding tenders carried out by Enarsa, The first on March 19 for 10 loads, the second on April 23 for the same amount and the third for 7 shipments were made on May 28, the same day that the supply crisis broke out in half the country at night, forcing to the shutdown of not only all the CNG stations in the country, but also nearly a hundred industries.
The 10 vessels acquired in March were given at an average price of $9.99 per million BTUthus adding in that first round a total payable of $209,813,000. In the tender for April the price was almost identicalwith an average of $9.96 per million BTU, with which the round demanded $209,279,000.
But third tender was more expensive. As this media was able to find out, the average value of the seven shipments was $12.10 per million BTU, an increase in prices of no less than 22% for identical products. As a result of this higher base price, the tender will demand 177,880,000 dollarsdespite having two fewer offices than the previous ones.
In last week’s tender, offers were received from six companies: TotalEnergies, Trafigura, Gunvor, Glencore, Vitol and RWE, since the offer presented by Engie had to be rejected for arriving four minutes outside the deadline.
Despite this number of offers, the average price was high, in line with the trend that the international market is showing. But also in line with the price that ended up being paid for shipment 28 of this year: the controversial Petrobras shipment which, with its refusal to unload last week, precipitated the country’s supply crisis.
This shipment is smaller in volume than the others (40,000 cubic meters compared to 56,900 for the others) and registered a price of 12.80 dollars per million BTU, thus bringing the final value of that LNG tanker to 21,760,000 dollars.
In total, these 28 shipments acquired this year imply a cost of $618,732,000 to be faced and of course they will be allocated entirely to the Expedient regasification vessel that operates in the port of Escobar. And They will add to a rescheduled dispatch from last year which had been put on hold as it was not required in 2023.
Compared to last year, LNG imports this year will be favored by two key factors: the first is the smaller amount of imported cargoes, and the second is the lowering of its price.
- 1,218 million dollars
- Less than last year will be allocated to the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
In the first case, it is clear that Javier Milei’s management was going to save all the loads that were acquired last year for the ship that operated in the Bahía Blanca areain addition to the rental of that regasifier, something that already exceeds the total imports this year.
In this case they are 12 less shipments those that were purchased since not only is there now the injection that is made from Vaca Muerta through the Néstor Kirchner Gasduct (GPNK) but also technically the existence of a regasifier in that area would have competed with the new gas pipeline for space on the other lines to be able to flow.
But in addition to this, Last year, 32 shipments were acquired for Escobar, while this year 28 will be purchased and there will be the added bonus of using an office that was left over from last year. Therefore, in terms of quantities, Milei management, led by GPNK, even without compressor plants, will import 34% less loads this year than last year.
As anticipated, the price also fell and a lot and it will be a great help for the public coffers. Last year, the 32 shipments acquired for Escobar required an investment of 1,367 million dollars, less than half (-54%) of what will be allocated this year since the price paid last year was close to $20 per million BTU.
If the 12 shipments purchased for Bahía Blanca are also added to last year’s account, The total allocated last year reached 1,837 million dollars, marking so This year’s savings reached 66%, or more notably, 1,218 million dollars.
