The regasification ship has left the country and is not returning: the government is betting everything on the pipeline

He came and went first never to return. As with the first colds that are usually anticipated at the beginning of the winter calendar, the Exemplary regasifierhe had already arrived in mid-May at the port of Bahía Blanca.

He did so ten days earlier than the previous year, when his bow appeared on May 25th. And this Wednesday, a week before the expiry of the current contract with Enarsa, he left the dock of the Compañía Mega, headed for Spain.

Behind there was a season in which he received a dozen shipments of Liquefied natural gas, two less than those initially contracted. The Flex Rainbow and Castillo de Caldelas ships, announced for the 15th and 22nd of this month, have not arrived.

The arrival of the former has been postponed to Wednesday 17, according to the Bahía Blanca Port Management Consortium. Then, directly, he removed it from the Operating Situation table which he updates daily. Later the same thing happened with the Castle of Caldelas.

This Monday the LNG category disappeared from the list of cargoes with which the port of Bahia works, therefore The season ended abruptly. So, the Exemplar match was about to drop and it happened this mid-morning Wednesday.

After 10 am, the Belgian-flagged ship of the North American company Excelerate Energy sets sail for Spain, where it will go to a dry dock. Alli will undergo a review and configuration for a future service, according to company sources Clarione.

The country’s departure is final because the ship was chartered from Finland where, unlike our country, a long-term operation awaits it. “She will supply it during the northern winter and the rest of the year, on a permanent basis,” a company spokesperson added.

“It will depend on the National Energy Secretariat and the situation on the international market,” replied the source when asked whether the ship will be replaced by another next winter in Bahía Blanca.

“The world FSRU market has become very complex,” he added, referring to the English acronym that identifies mobile storage and regasification units such as the Exemplar, which, in the last year, have multiplied all over the planet.

Market sources have argued for the early departure of the ship in which the winter was mild, Bolivia has supplied more gas than expected and, in particular, the Central Bank must stop the bleeding of foreign currency from reserves.

Last week the presidential spokesperson, Gabriela Cerruti, revealed that two shipments of LNG had been returned, which meant saving foreign currency for the country.

The return of the regasification plant to Bahía Blanca will then depend on the situation on the international market and on the Degree of progress of the pipeline between Treatyén and Salliqueló which, once operational, will make it possible to cut purchases abroad.

“Today our Exemplar regasification vessel left the port of Bahía Blanca, after serving for three months in Argentina to cover the peak of winter demand with flexible, clean and reliable energy”, Excelerate published on its Linkedin profile.

“During his stay, the Re-gasified specimen 1.7 m3 of LNG from 12 different merchant ships, introducing 1,800 MM m3 of gas into the network and reaching the regasification peak on 7 July with a total of 17 MMSm3 / g treated “ added the post.

In the text he underlines that the crew of the Exemplar is “mostly Argentine”, a milestone for the company and that it will cross the Atlantic, “in search of new challenges in Europe”.