Argentina offers US$2bn tender for Vaca Muerta gas pipeline

Argentina has launched a tender for a new US$2bn gas pipeline in the region of the huge Vaca Muerta shale play, which, according to the country’s energy department, is due to be completed by mid-2021.

The pipeline runs from the province of Neuquen, in southern Argentina, to Salliquelo, a city in the province of Buenos Aires.

“It is expected to be completed during the winter of 2021 (in the Southern Hemisphere), so we are in a hurry to get out of the auction,” said Carlos Casares, undersecretary of hydrocarbons and fuel, to Reuters in Buenos Aires.

“Any investor who wins the bid will receive an escape route if the economic context does not allow it to be built,” he said, explaining that they need to take into account the upcoming elections that are fueling political uncertainty.

President Mauricio Macri, who will seek re-election in October, is betting on the development of Vaca Muerta to reduce energy imports and make the country a net exporter of hydrocarbons, creating a new source of income in foreign currency.

Vaca Muerta is an unconventional hydrocarbon formation the size of Belgium that could house one of the largest unconventional hydrocarbon reserves in the world.

Source: Reuters

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