Vaca Muerta gas pipeline: builders already defined

The construction of the gas pipeline that will connect Vaca Muerta with Buenos Aires is almost ready. The alliance between Techint and Sacde presented the lowest bids in three of the five sections. Esuco and BTU will keep a tranche each. With one particularity, BTU was the only bidder in one of the “lines”, as the different routes are called.

Energía Argentina (formerly Enarsa) is the company that deals with the tender and construction of the gas pipeline. Last week Techint and Sacde made a bid for the fourth line, a section of the pipeline, against BTU. Techint-Sacde asked to raise $ 47,239 million, while BTU requested $ 47,667 million. The original offers were higher, but those are the figures that are left with the discounts.

The alliance between Techint and Sacde (Marcelo Mindlin’s construction company) has already maintained two sections in the construction of the pipeline that will connect Buenos Aires with Vaca Muerta, and everything indicates that it will keep another. Esuco, owned by Carlos Wagner (former president of the Argentine Chamber of Construction) was awarded the contract for a compression plant. BTU will do section 3: its offer -the only one opened by Ieasa- it was the only one that opened.

Tenaris-Siat (by Techint) was the sole bidder for the supply of pipes, a $ 600 million contract. The construction of the work is 573 kilometers which should be ready in June 2023. It is expected that the start will be this month.

The Néstor Kirchner pipeline consists of five sections. And almost all the companies left standing are well on their way to taking something away. Section 3 bidding opened on Tuesday. And the only one that applied is BTU, which has offered to raise $ 55.3 billion. The original budget for this 133-kilometer route was nearly $ 42,000 million.

Energía Argentina did not open the other offers available, because they were companies that had been disqualified in the selection procedure – that is, they did not meet the technical requirements – or had already won in the previous tranches, so they did not qualify now, according to the criteria of the state company.

The union between Techint and Sacde will receive $ 61,227 million for the construction of 220 kilometers of pipelines “which extend from the connection to the TGS system (at the Tasayén air conditioning plant) up to kilometer 220 of the Gas Pipeline route, located in La Pampa “, according to Energía Argentina, the state company responsible for the project. In the bidding process, it is called “line 1”.

BTU, which also participated in this auction, requested nearly 80,000 million and its offer was rejected.

The tender between Techint-Sacde and BTU was repeated for “line 2” of the pipeline. It is for the construction of another 220 kilometers of pipeline “which extend from kilometer 220 of the track in La Pampa to the 440 kilometer of the same province”. Techint offered $ 56.128 million, while BTU again requested a sum close to $ 80 billion. It will remain for Techint and Sacde

Esuco, owned by Carlos Wagner, has been awarded “line 5”, corresponding to a compression plant at the head of the Mercedes-Cardales pipeline in the province of Buenos Aires. It is a secondary pipe that will be built into the TGS system. That carrier (TGS) offered to do the job, but their offer was not accepted. Esuco came out on top by offering nearly $ 11 billion, while BTU asked for nearly $ 17 billion.

BTU is Carlos Mundin’s construction company that participated in all sections of the competition. Mundin was jailed for five months and came out with a partial dismissal due to the “notebooks” case. Next to him they point out that the company is now in the hands of their son, but that he follows the entire process due to his “vast experience”.

Carlos Wagner (of Esuco) was president of the Chamber of Construction for most of the Kirchner period. He was imprisoned for 15 days and declared repentant. Wagner has also handed over the management of the company to his children, but remains with the company.

Hermanos Contreras’ alliance with Víctor Contreras has not been admitted until now. Techint, which appeared in the notebooks with dismissed officials, appeared for all sections together with Sacde, the construction company that belonged to Angelo Calcaterra as Iecsa and now belongs to the Pampa group, whose main shareholder is Marcelo Mindlin. Techint is the largest pipeline builder in the region