The cold of May made things more complicated. With temperatures that are believed to reach historic lows for the month these days, the Government sent a letter to companies in the gas industry to put them on alert. It is a warning of a strong increase in demand, which is already foreseen, and requires some details for the operation in the coming days.
The letter is dated yesterday, the signature Carlos Alberto Casaresauditor of Enargas, and has a copy of the Secretary of Energy, Eduardo Rodríguez Chirillo. It is aimed at the main gas transporters and distributors in the country: TGN, TGS, Metrogas, Litoral Gas, Naturgy, Gas Nea, Gasnor, Camuzzi Gas Pampeana, Camuzzi Gas del Sur, Distribuidora de Gas del Centro, Distribuidora de Gas Cuyana and Redengas .
In the sector they talk about “unpredictability”, a lack of measures and investment and that the cold “caught the energy team in a bad position.” “They save and have a surplus due to these problems,” they said in one of the companies, visibly worried. Energy did not respond to questions from Infobae about this theme.
The truth is that the Néstor Kirchner Gasduct is not yet operating at full capacity. full: contributes 11 million m3, but should be around 24 million per day. In the midst of that, Cammesa went out to buy liquid fuel ships for about USD 400 million at the last minute and earlier than expected. In conclusion, until the ships arrive, we must maintain the cuts.
In general, gas has two types of demand: uninterruptible, which is residential; and interruptible, basically, CNG and some industries, which can be cheaper contracts and can be cut in the event of a circumstance in which shortages are recorded. In terms of cuts, they first occur in these interruptible schemes, then in industry and finally – in what would be a much more complex situation – to power plants that use natural gas to generate electrical energy. They are decided based on residential demand which, as said, is a priority.
In this sense, the letter requests the “identification and quantification of interruptible transport contracts (TI) that may be susceptible to cuts, in order to speed up decision-making in an operational situation in which normal supply is at risk. of natural gas.” Talk about “pre-emergency” status, also. It is a protocol and administrative term, a methodological way of saying “something is happening” and putting the issue at the center of the industry.
“It will be up to all transportation and distribution licensees involved to immediately adopt all necessary measures to ensure system operability conditions and regular and continuous service to consumers (art. 31, Law No. 24,076), which includes the due gas supply to support uninterrupted demand,” Casares requested.
“The Transportation Licensees must identify, quantify and proceed to cut off interruptible services that are strictly necessary according to their technical and operational evaluations, taking into account the effectiveness criteria so that the cutting of interruptible transportation (IT) services has an immediate effect on your linepack and, therefore, in the delivery pressures of the affected city gates,” he added. From the sector they warn that a level of fall is already seen in the so-called linepacks, gas pipelines full. If there is demand and there is no gas being injected, even if you are at a peak of gas production, that “deflates”. linepack and you go into emergency. It is technical, but it has to do with the demand in the “pipes” and what can happen if it goes down.
The letter, which the Government defines as “usual”, asks companies to cut what they can – within what is authorized by the current scheme – and to have on hand the list of other contracts that could be interrupted in the coming days. (always industrial, at least for the moment).
“A significant cold is coming that caught the energy team in a bad position. They have been mismanaging the system since they took office, the works that had to be done were not done and today they are in a weak situation. Enargas needs to know how much volume they can cut with these contracts. You are beginning to see an emergency situation in the system. It wouldn’t be serious: that’s what interruptible contracts are for. But they also ask to take the necessary measures to ensure system operability conditions and regular and continuous service to consumers. They are told that they are responsible for guaranteeing the functioning of the system, that the distributors and transporters are going to have to take all measures to not cut off residential demand,” details a senior source in the sector who requested off the record.
From one of the companies to which the letter was sent, they detailed that last week the country was consuming double, 100% more consumption, than the same week in May of the previous year. “That made the pipe wobble a little: a lot of product was sucked in to basically supply household demand, shops, hospitals, etc. Faced with that, on Tuesday and Wednesday, Distributors begin to make cuts to interruptible contracts“, they acknowledged in one of the distributors.
Several of these companies cut off supplies to CNG stations and some industries. “But the system was not recovering because the cold continues, people continue consuming at the same levels and there was no forecast that there would be that volume of consumption. The State advanced purchases of liquefied gas: remember that we produce 85% of what it needs and 15% must be imported. Now they ask us all to cut what can be cut,” they added.
