In parallel to the removal of subsidies and the “honesty” of the rates, the Ministry of Energy of Eduardo Rodríguez Chirillo He began to imagine five gas pipelines to bring Vaca Muerta gas to southern Brazil. Although a way to advance all the works will be sought, the debate is what is the best option to advance in the short term, according to what they commented to Infobae sources of dependency.
The official projection is that the demand for industrial energy on the other side of the border will grow as will the Brazilian economy, supplied by a Bolivia which entered into a sharp decline in its hydrocarbon production. That is the opportunity they see in Energía: “We have to bring the couple together.”
The project that could give results the fastest is to take advantage of the Bolivian infrastructure, with pipes to carry 20 million cubic meters per day “that are deflated.” The first key is the first stage of the Reversion of the Northern Gasduct that will take some 19 million cubic meters from Neuquén to northern Argentina. The pipeline was designed to transport fluid from the neighboring country, so it must be reversed.
Most of that gas will stay in Córdoba, Tucumán, La Rioja, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero, Salta and Jujuy. Therefore, it is necessary to advance in a second phase of the reversal to add greater transportation capacity that could be financed with private capital. Only in this way could a surplus of 10 million cubic meters be added, which could be greater in summer.
For this, it is also necessary to negotiate with Bolivia a rate to use its gas pipelines. It is there where the alternative of Paraguay was born, which is willing to add financing for a USD 1.5 billion project that will take 15 million cubic meters per day that begins in Salta and reaches Campo Grande in the southwest of Brazil.
The other border crossing that could be used to go through Paraguay is the Argentine Northwest Gasduct (GNEA) from Formosa. The pipeline would pass through Asunción to supply the demand of the Paraguayan capital and would also reach Campo Grande and from there to San Pablo.
On the other hand, there is the possibility of moving to Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná. First, it is necessary to advance in the second stage of the Presidente Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline that connectsTrayen (Neuquén) with Salliqueló (Buenos Aires). To these would be added a pipeline through Uruguayana to reach Porto Alegre. The work will be put out to tender in the coming months.
The last possibility would be to use the passage through Uruguay through the Cruz del Sur Gasduct that connects Punta Lara with Colonia. There would be a need for the construction of a section of pipe from Montevideo to Porto Alegre and new compressor plants.
Chirillo hopes to add private financing or financing from international organizations to these projects, in line with the Government’s vision to eliminate public works. That is why since he began management he sought to rebuild income and change the logic of self-sufficiency to that of “maximization of income” with the aim of giving investment signals.
“We must maximize the income of the hydrocarbon sector. This means greatly increasing production to be able to export to the region and, in four or five years, produce and sell as LNG (plant construction through). All of this is not going to put at risk ensuring internal supply but that has nothing to do with the self-sufficiency issue. In recent years we had a negative energy trade balance of 30 billion dollars. “We did something wrong,” he said in February during his presentation in the commission of Deputies for the Base Law.
