Unlike other sectors strained by recurring crises, the oil industry in Argentina seems live another movie And this is how we saw this afternoon at the Sheraton among the thousand present at the lunch which celebrated the 115th anniversary of the discovery of oil and gas in Comodoro Rivadavia.
Conversations at the tables revolved around current and upcoming projects, always overflowing with dollars. This industry occupies 150,000 people with above-average salaries, as well as mobilizing national economies. The sector, despite its tradition, is now considered an emerging sector that allows the country to earn foreign currency without depending on the weather as happens with the field.
There is only illusion with the Vaca Muerta pipeline and its ready extension. Also, with the southern basin of Tierra del Fuego. The latest news is the an expectation that arose with the discoveries in a basin mirroring that of Mar del Plata, that of Namibia in southern Africa of immense potential that is replicated 300 kilometers and 1,500 meters deep from the coast of the seaside resort.
Symbol of bonanza, none of the great players was missing at lunch. From YPF’s Pablo González, Marcos Bulgheroni (PAE), Nidia Alvarez Crog (Equinor), María Tettamanti (Camuzzi), Teófilo Lacroze (Raizen), Gabriela Aguiar (Excelerate Energy), Hugo Eurnekian (CGC), Javier Rielo (Total), Horacio Turri (Pampa) and Javier Martinez Alvarez (Techint). They surrounded the Secretary of Energy, Flavia Royón.
Of course, from the podium, Ernesto López Anadón, warned that in the future “There is no guarantee that hydrocarbons will continue to be used on a large scale as they are today. The window of opportunity we have is very narrow. Today, and not tomorrow, is the time to create the right conditions. We are in competition with other resources in the world”.
The president of the Oil and Gas Institute has raised “freedom of export, adequate conditions for the companies of the sector and not the State, to generate the necessary infrastructure, such as treatment plants and pipelines for the local market and for the export to neighboring countries, ports and LNG plants.And of course, free availability of foreign currency.
Royón has forecast a positive balance for the sector of 4 and 8 billion US dollars in 2026. And he stressed that the first section of the pipeline from Tratayén to Salliqueló will mean a savings of US$2,200 million in imports and subsidies.
He claims they already have the resources for the second tranche. He listed the pipelines that will allow the doubling of the oil transport capacity from Vaca Muerta, “allowing an increase in oil exports, with which Argentina will ensure an annual income of between 4,000 and 6,500 million dollars”.
After the occasional toast, the president of the YPF, Pablo González, confessed to negotiations with various sectors. He has an urgency: a law that protects and guarantees what will be the largest investment in history, a Liquefied Natural Gas plant, the methods of exporting the gas. This is what the YPF-Petronas agreement requires, to allocate 10 billion dollars in the construction of an LNG production plant in Bahía Blanca.
According to his calculations, it will allow Argentina to consolidate itself as one of the main gas exporting countries in the world.
Source: Clarin
