The construction SACDEby brothers Damian and Marcelo Mindlincompleted a work of expansion of the Presidente Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline (GPNK) of Vaca Muerta to avoid a lack of gas in the country in the coming years. It will also allow Argentina to have a savings of 350 million dollars annually for the substitution of imports of liquid fuels and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
It’s about the Treatyén Compressor Plantlocated in the heart of Vaca Muerta (Neuquén, at the beginning of the gas pipeline), which will expand the GPNK’s gas transportation capacity to Salliqueló by 5 million m3 per day (MMm3/d) (Buenos Aires), where other construction companies are doing the same operation. This fuel will replace foreign purchases of diesel and fuel oil, generating commercial savings for the country, highlighted Damián Mindlin, president and CEO of SACDE.
At the moment, The Vaca Muerta gas pipeline has a technical capacity of 11 MMm3/d -although sometimes it transports more than 13 MMm3/d- and will jumpwhen this plant is inaugurated -in mid-July- at 16 MMm3/d. The additional fluid will be provided with the Gas Plan several oil companies, including YPF, Tecpetrol and Pluspetrol.
Later on, even, Southern Gas Transport Company (TGS)a member company of holding company Pampa Energywill be able to expand the GPNK privately with the expansion of this compressor plant and the installation of three more on the route, in the province of La Pampa, to transport a maximum future flow of 40 million m3 per day of natural gas, the operational limit of the gas pipeline.
This investment, of at least US$ 500 million, must be authorized by the Government and awarded before November 1 to be completed before winter 2026, and will take advantage of the benefits of Large Investment Incentive Scheme (RIGI) approved by Congress with the Bases Law.
SACDE “reached the mechanical completion” (civil works) of the plant and during the next few weeks the set up and the necessary tests, carried out by the public company Energía Argentina (Enarsa), which is the owner of the gas pipeline. For the plant to be Apt to Operate (APF), the equipment must be commissioned (a 15,000 HP turbocharger from Solar Turbines), which is expected to be ready for the plant. July 9th.
The benefits of the work and its history
The Tratayén compressor plant is one of the works of the Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline that were still pending completion and Its implementation would have been key so that Argentina would not have the problem of the gas shortage that occurred at the end of May. The work had a cost for the national State close to US$ 125 million, paid by Enarsa; and required at the peak of the work some 700 workers in double shifts.
It was put out to tender by the previous Government and had a start date of July 29, 2023, but the problems with the Lack of dollars in the Central Bank (BCRA) They complicated the payment of imports of inputs, since the monetary authority did not deliver the foreign currency in a context of shortages and pressures for devaluation.
Without breaching the contract, Enarsa and SACDE were adapting the conditions to move the delivery date to the spring of last year and then before winter 2024. When the government changed, the work was 61.89% complete.according to construction certificate No. 13 to which he had exclusive access Clarion.
The addendum to the contract with the redetermination of prices was signed on February 26 of this year, with the APF date for May 22 and the possibility of extending it to early June if different “milestones” in construction were met.
In the middle of the four-month period with the highest inflation in the last 33 years (December-April), the Government had to review the contracts signed by the previous administration and only gave the go-ahead at the end of February, although he paid on April 30. For this reason, SACDE had to have own funds to speed up the work.
The gas shortage in the country during May, which forced cuts to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) service stations and even to industries, was caused by problems in scheduling liquefied gas imports, which were not enough to cope with the growth in household demand due to a cold snap. The Government was confident that the works to expand the gas pipeline would be ready, but it was still at least 40 days away at that time and the degree of progress “inherited” was a cause of controversy.
