Government assigned the quantity of gas to be purchased by each company once the Vaca Muerta pipeline and its extensions are completed. With deed, the Ministry of Energy announced the companies selected for gas dispatching between 2025 and 2028.
Given the rise in international prices, in 2022 the energy balance it closed with a loss of more than 5.6 billion dollars. It was because the gas, diesel and fuel oil had to be imported due to the local impossibility of extracting the gas that exists in Vaca Muerta because there was no way to transport it.
If the pipeline is ready by June 2023 and the extension continuesthe energy balance could change completely. The government projects a surplus of 5,000 million dollars in 2023 (because some will still have to be imported), but which will reach 8,000 million dollars in 2024, with less need to buy energy from abroad.
Thus the government it estimates it will save $2.6 billion in 2023. In 2022, it imported $5.6 billion, and in 2023, it estimates $3 billion will pass through that section.
YPF leads the list of winners of rounds 4 and 5 of the Gas plan, the results of which were announced this Thursday. The majority state-owned oil company will send nearly a quarter of the “incremental,” i.e. new capacity that the pipelines will have when expanded. There are 25 million cubic meters between 2025 and 2028, out of a total of 100 million that companies will sell in that period.
Gas plans 1, 2 and 3 covered the supply expected between 2021 and 2023. Rounds 4 and 5, awarded on Wednesday, correspond to extensions and supplies from 2023 to 2028.
It is estimated that a production peak of 145 million cubic meters per day will be reached in the second half of 2023, exceeding what was achieved in 2014.
YPF’s supply will come from its docks in Neuquén. There is the Vaca Muerta field, where it is estimated there are gas reserves to cover the country’s demand for decades. The company will receive a price tag of US$3.66 per million BTUs (the industry unit of measure). The same product is being bought for more than US$25 in LNG imports, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has kicked up international prices.
Tecpetrol appears as second in the standings of those who will commit gas in the future. There are almost 20 million cubic meters from 2025 to 2028. The company belongs to the Techint group. That same holding is the supplier of the pipes with which the gas pipeline between Vaca Muerta and Buenos Aires is built. In turn, he is the builder of various sections of civil works, associated with Sacde, a company that shares a shareholder (Marcelo Mindlin) with Pampa Energía.
Pan American Energy (PAE) takes the silver medal. It will ship 12.57 million cubic meters. The company managed by the Bulgheroni family will contribute from three of the four existing basins (Neuquén, Chubut, Tierra del Fuego and Santa Cruz). From Neuquén – where PAE had been a less relevant player) there will be 7.20 million cubic meters. In Tierra del Fuego there will be 3.65 million. And Chubut will contribute $1.72 million.
Marcos Bulgheroni, Group CEO of Pan American Energy, was the only entrepreneur to speak. “The gas plan 4 and 5 involved nearly 100 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and produced an average of $3.5 per million BTU, which is almost 10 times lower than what we can get today in the international LNG market, which was a good sign for Argentina”. “This gas plan gives a strong signal to the industry to continue moving forward with the contractualisation of gas markets and to be able to invest in the medium to long term,” she said.
Pampa is in fourth place. According to data from the Ministry of Energy, there will be 11.78 million cubic meters, again from Vaca Muerta. “For many years, gas producers have been demanding that there be a predictable price path in the medium term and that the pipeline be built, two fundamental issues for the development of Vaca Muerta,” according to Marcelo Mindlin, head of the company. “From the Pampas we will contribute 44% of the gas that the new pipeline will carry next winter”, added.
Both YPF and Tecpetrol, Pampa and PAE will extract gas from Neuquén. That province appears to be secured with large royalties for the next five years.
The French Total Austral is the foreigner who it peaked highest on the list. It promises 9.5 million cubic meters between Tierra del Fuego and Neuquén. Also interested is the German Wintershall, whose operational base is Tierra del Fuego, where it has offshore plants, from which it assures that it will contribute 5.3 million cubic meters to the system. But it will also bring gas from Neuquén to the system, with nearly 1.7 million.
The national Pluspetrol, controlled by local families, will also contribute 6.78 million to the system. He will pick them up in Neuquén, according to official information.
The Compañía General de Combustibles (CGC) is controlled by Hugo Eurnekian. Its 5.5 million meters will come from the Santa Cruz basins. The company has focused on that province and is finding the expected results, in a place where most of the oil companies – except YPF – are not targeting.
“As Minister Sergio Massa underlined in his speech, the Ministry of Energy has managed to make competition the tool that allows us to lower prices, increase investments, increase employment and establish long-term rules and contracts between Argentine state, companies and their value chains. The gas molecules in our subsoil may be part of the strength of Argentina’s future“, according to Federico Bernal, Undersecretary for Hydrocarbons.
“We worked non-stop for three months and it paid off. We talk to each of the companies, negotiate with them, look for the best alternatives and designs for the tender. We reach extremely competitive prices, in a world immersed in a deep energy crisis and with extremely high price volatility. Securing supply by 2028, by ensuring the filling of the Néstor Kirchner pipeline that will be operational next winter, means deepening the valorisation of Vaca Muerta that began after the recovery of YPF in 2012. Without abundant energy at affordable prices there is no possibility of authentic economic or human development,” he added.
Petrobras (1.08 million cubic meters), Vista (860,000 cubic meters), Mobil (410,000 meters) and Shell (300,000 meters) complete the list of winners.
Source: Clarin
