Vaca Muerta’s increased oil and gas production is starting to benefit other companies related to the industry. Compañía Mega, a company dedicated to the separation of liquid from gas and its fractionation, has announced to investors a project that will allow expand capacity of production by about 50%. The company deals in ethane, propane, butane and natural gasoline.
Mega is the result of an association between YPF (38% of shares), Petrobras (34%) and Dow (28%). The company has a fractionation train at its plant White Bay. And it will build a second between 2023 and 2025. That’s what they say in the company They still can’t define the investment.
The company had quarterly sales of $20 billion in March and generated $45 billion in 2021. Although inflation could reach 100% this year, sales could grow above that percentage from Mega exports most of its products.
Demand for ethane, propane, butane and natural gasoline has been buoyant in recent months. Also, like most energy product prices, it varied an ascending path in recent years.
In 2021, half of Mega’s income came from exports. That percentage could be higher when the numbers for 2022 are known, according to some industry sources. Also because most of their business would come from sales abroad, in addition to the higher revenues deriving from the devaluation of the official exchange rate against the dollar.
As a counterpart, it is too one of the main suppliers of LPGthe gas used for the jugs. That business is in the hands of fractionators from other companies.
The decision to go ahead with a second split train comes after several years of study. The vitality of Vaca Muerta is having an impact. This formation generates about 80 million cubic meters of gas per day, e Mega catch around 38 million. That gas contains liquid, which the company separates and then fractionates.
Mega gets 4,700 tons of C3 per day, the name given to its products (ethane, propane, butane and natural gasoline). With the expansion, they expect to get another 900 tons.
The liquid separation plant is located in Loma de La Lata, in Neuquén. Here comes the liquid gas. It also has a 9.6 kilometer connection with Tratayén, from where Loma de la Lata is also supplied. In that town of Neuquén, in June 2023, the gas pipeline that will connect Vaca Muerta to Buenos Aires starts.
The fractionation plant is located in Bahía Blanca. Neuquén and Buenos Aires are connected by a polyduct.
YPF makes its gas available to Mega through a supply contract. In its separation plant, the company obtains supplies of this gas but also of other liquefiable components which it purchases from other producers in the Neuquén basin. “Mega sells ethane to PBB Polisur and propane, butane and natural gasoline to Petrobras”, defines the company in its financial statements.
In 2019, when Petrobras put many of its assets in the country up for sale, it was believed that there would be a change of shareholders, to the benefit of YPF or Dow. But that hasn’t happened until now. In any case, the good outlook for the sector suggests that the possibility is simmering.
The construction of the natural gas separation plant (including pipelines and related structures), fractionation plant and storage and dispatching facilities was carried out through a turnkey construction contract for approximately 445 million dollars, according to the company.
Source: Clarin
