In this case Massa will arrive in Neuquén to inaugurate the pipeline Sierras Blancas-Allena project of the private consortium made up of the oil companies Shell Argentina, Pan American Energy (PAE) and Pluspetrol, which will be operated by Oldeval.
His previous visit was in September 2022, a month after taking office, for the AOG Patagonia oil exhibition organized by the IAPG. “We came to join with work and commitment to the revolution that the development of Vaca Muerta means for the province and the country,” he said during that visit.
That same month he flew to Houston, the oil heart of the US, in search of investment. And last January he had the opportunity to tour the Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline workshop camp in La Pampa, but in the end he did not travel.
In the last few hours, the minister celebrated the savings of US$2.1 billion in the purchase of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 2023, due to the drop in international prices. As he explained, “the originally budgeted expenses for LNG imports were $3.465 million to $55 million BTUs. However, the impact of the volatility of the international price of LNG opened a window of opportunity for Argentina” and “it was decided to anticipate the purchase of LNG that allowed the price to drop to US$ 20.8 per million BTU, through a bidding process”. With this measure, some $500,000 million were saved, he estimated.
At the ribbon-cutting of the new pipeline, he will be accompanied by the Secretary of Energy of the Nation, Flavia Royon, and the governors of Río Negro, Arabela Carreras and Neuquén, Omar Gutiérrez, among other national and provincial authorities and those of the 10 municipalities that cross the work, Shell sources informed Ámbito.
Executives of the consortium companies and of the more than 50 contractors and suppliers that were involved in the work, mostly of national and regional origin, will also be present.
For Shell, Paul Goodfellow, executive vice president of the Deep Water division, in charge of Shell’s Global portfolio in Deep Water, and the president of Shell Argentina, Ricardo Rodríguez, will be present.
The pipeline, which required some US$80 million private investmentwas carried out in two sections, the first of about 60 kilometers to Lake Pellegrini, and the second to Allen, with 40 more kilometers. It will have the capacity to transport up to 125,000 barrels of oil per day and, in addition to Shell, it may be used by third-party operators who want to contract its use.
Source: Ambito
