The state oil company YPF began this week to carry out the first crude pumping from its Puesto Hernández plant in Neuquén, through an extension of 427 kilometers, which will allow oil to be transported from Vaca Muerta to the neighboring country. The first movements are part of the final stage of the rehabilitation of the Trasandino Pipeline (Otasa), a pipeline that crosses the Andes Mountains and supplies Chileans with energy. The tuning process will last for a period of 45 days.
In this regard, the Secretary of Energy stated: “It is a strategic work and one more example of the path that is being followed in the development of Vaca Muerta: having not only much more than gas for Argentines, but also having more gas for export.”
And he added: “In this development process we now have almost 365 days of uninterrupted gas exports to Chile, and also crude oil exports. Argentine refineries are fully supplied and this allows crude oil to be exported and for that, in addition to the Trasandino Pipeline, there is a private investment already committed in different oil pipelines to increase the transport capacity and to be able to generate foreign currency in the energy sector”.
As indicated by Royon, in this first stage the validity of the contract is 45 days and provides for the sale of 41,000 barrels per day, a figure equivalent to between 2,000,000 and 2,500,000 dollars per day.
“This is the path that the energy sector will follow, which will contribute to the generation of foreign currency for our country, as stated by Minister Sergio Massa, and in particular Vaca Muerta, where production records are broken every month. both in gas and oil. assured the secretary.
Following the commercial agreement signed a week ago with ENAP of Chile, YPF will be the operator in charge of injecting the crude. ENAP, in turn, will also be allowed to carry out early import tests of crude oil from Argentina; and on the logistical and operational side, it will provide you with essential information to make future definitions for the signing of new commercial contracts with other producers in the Neuquén Basin.
From Vaca Muerta to Chile, and from Chile to the world
The reactivation of this project declared strategic, a year ago, by the governments of the presidents Alberto Fernandez and Gabriel Boricwill allow increasing the capacity to transport the incremental oil that is produced in the unconventional formation.
The pipeline has a capacity to transport 17,500 cubic meters per day, equivalent to almost 115,000 barrels per day, and YPF is working at the same time to link it with the pipeline under construction called Vaca Muerta Norte, which will go from Puesto Hernández to Loma Campana.
From an initial height of 700 meters, the pipeline climbs almost 2,000 meters to cross the Cordillera and then descends to the Bío Bío Refinery in Chile.
The works to rehabilitate the Trasandino Pipeline They included maintenance on the pumping plants of Puesto Hernández, Pampa de Tril and La Primavera and an exhaustive verification of the state of the integrity of the pipeline in order to resume shipments.
Source: Ambito
