“This work, which required an investment of US$85 million, increases the transportation capacity from Vaca Muerta to the refineries and export destinations”, highlighted the official, the official inauguration of that pipeline. According to Royon, the Argentine energy sector “comes with a negative balance, but we are very close to turning it around, with crude oil and gas exports.”
The official considered that, with the development of this deposit, “within a few years Argentina will be heading towards self-sufficiency. We hope that this year will be the last year that we have to make large purchases of LNG.” She also praised the contribution of the private sector in the energy market: “They are committed to the development of the country,” said.
The pipeline, 105 kilometers long and 16 inches in diameter, It will link the Sierras Blancas oil production area in Vaca Muerta, Shell’s operations center in the Neuquén formation, with the pumping station located in the Río Negro town of Allen. The pipeline will have the capacity to transport up to 125,000 barrels of oil per day.
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Secretary of Energy
The work will make it possible to expand the current network, pave the way to increase production and facilitate the evacuation of crude oil to refineries in the province of Buenos Aires and export points by relieving the existing bottleneck in midstream infrastructure due to the strong increase of production that was produced in Vaca Muerta.
The project that was in operation since the end of last year, it was built in a record time of just nine months and is Shell’s first midstream investment in its 108-year presence in the country.
The project consortium is made up of Shell, as the winner and leader (with a 60% stake), Pan American Energy (25%) and Pluspetrol (15%); and the construction of the pipeline was in charge of Techint-SIMA.
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“With this project, the first of its kind with private investment, we seek together with our partners to make a concrete contribution to the development of Vaca Muerta,” stressed Ricardo Rodriguez, President of Shell Argentina.
For his part, Marcos BulgheroniGroup CEO of Pan American Energy, said that “The inauguration of this pipeline is a clear example of coordination of national and provincial policies that make possible the necessary investments for the development of Vaca Muerta.”
“It is a great satisfaction, as part of the industry, to be inaugurating this pipeline today. It will add 20,000 m3 of transportation capacity per day to the three companies of the construction consortium, Shell, Pan American Energy and Pluspetrol. We need this evacuation capacity to continue investing in wells and raise our production”, he completed.
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In addition, he stressed that they obtained a strong increase in production. “In the last 5 years, Vaca Muerta quadrupled its oil production and almost tripled its unconventional gas production. Today the production of unconventional oil from Vaca Muerta is 276 thousand barrels per day while that of unconventional gas is ~48 MMm3/day. We hope to continue growing for the next few years until reaching around 750 thousand barrels of oil per day and around 150 MMm3 / day by 2030”, he concluded.
“Participating in this project is very important for us given the development plans that Pluspetrol has for the coming years in Vaca Muerta. This pipeline gives us the possibility of having more capacity to transport liquids and, thus, continue contributing to the growth and development of the formation,” he commented. German Macchi, Country Manager of Pluspetrol in Argentina.
Source: Ambito
