Controversy and pressures on the Vaca Muerta gas pipeline

Until April 8, oil companies and carriers have time to express their interest in the construction of a new gas pipeline or the development of a significant expansion of the basin's transport capacity from Neuquén to AMBA and Littoral, according to resolution 82 of the dependence led by Gustavo Lopetegui.

According to this standard, proposals may be considered, in whole or in part, for inclusion in the basics and conditions of the public tender which should be awarded in September.

According to official estimates, the first tranche of the Neuquén project in Bahía Blanca will require an investment of $ 800 million. Of this total, 400 million would come from the ANSES Sustainability Guarantee Fund and 200 million from the IDB, while the remaining 200 million would have to be financed by the interested parties.

What is not said is when users, through tariffs, start to pay for the work. In principle, according to the contracts negotiated by the current government with carriers under the Gas Regulatory Framework Act, the works are planned over a period of five years and transport rates are established for these five years and provide for strictly funds. for the construction.

Works and tariffs are set until 2021, but the government wants to allocate the Vaca Muerta gas pipeline in September to have a first tranche ready for winter 2020, which would require at least one revision of the current plan.

In this regard, the Chamber of Exploration and Production of Hydrocarbons (CEPH), which includes all oil companies, sent this week a message of praise to Enargas, requesting a census of the remaining potential capacity in pipelines and an identification. extensions. which are economical and optimize the current systems. It also states that once these extensions are released, it will be determined which of them can be achieved with the current RTI rates (full tariff revision) and which would require an additional tariff charge.

This means that potential investors called by the government want to be certain that the work is needed and that they will recover any investments in the pipeline. It does not appear that energy ministers have committed to buying for Cammesa 12 million cubic meters of gas at a similar price to the import of LNG for the winters from 2020 to 2023, linking this initiative to new transportation work.

The official project is not only beset by election uncertainty, high credit costs and exchange rate instability. There are also other elements at stake. The increase in production in 2018 is due to about 80% of the area of ​​Fortín de Piedra, attributed to the Techint group by Tecpetrol, which should receive a guaranteed price by the state of 7.50 USD for the entire production.

At present, this subsidized stimulus value was limited to the anticipated production in the original project: about 8.5 million cubic meters per day, compared with 17.5 million cubic meters in December.

Tecpetrol has stopped drilling for the moment and extraction will no longer increase. Other oil companies, such as YPF, which have not entered the 46 resolution grants, plan to focus more on oil than on Vaca Muerta gas.

Some experts suggest that gas from this training requires a high price that can not be paid for by demand and that is now neither subsidized by the state due to budget constraints.

The ability of residential and industrial users to pay increasingly expensive dollars for gas and possibly for a new gas pipeline in an ever-dwindling economy also raises a profound question.