About Télam
The national Government advances with the construction of the President Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline, that will connect the unconventional hydrocarbon production area of Vaca Muerta, in Neuquén, with the provinces of Río Negro, La Pampa, Buenos Aires and Santa Fe. As explained by the authorities the current transport capacity ” is practically saturated” so its construction “does not allow delays”.
The Ministry of Energy declared its construction to be of National Public Interest through the resolution 67/2022, published this Wednesday in the Official Gazette. There it was clarified that said gas pipeline will be the priority work of the system “Transport.Ar”. This system, created in the same resolution, seeks to carry out the necessary undertakings to increase production, domestic supply and export of natural gas, as well as the substitution of other alternative fuels such as diesel oil, fuel oil and LNG (liquefied natural gas).
From the Secretariat specified that the work, together with the Mercedes-Cardales gas pipeline that will be carried out later, it will represent a saving “that could reach 1,000 million dollars per year”, by substitution of imports of Bolivian gas, LNG and alternative fuels for electricity generation.
“The net effect on the energy trade balance of the development of such infrastructure would be around 2,500 million dollars per year, considering the decrease in imports and the increase in exported volumes”, add.
The President Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline will transport natural gas with starting point from the vicinity of Tratayén (Neuquén), crossing the provinces of Río Negro and La Pampa, passing through Saliqueló in the province of Buenos Aires to the vicinity of San Jerónimo, in that of Santa Fe.
Energía considered it “imperative” to carry out the work, both because of the lower expected availability of gas produced in the northwest basin and imported from Bolivia, and because of the inconveniences in the transport of Vaca Muerta gas.
“At present the transport capacity of the three gas pipelines that link the Neuquén basin with the large consumption centers it is practically saturated, implying that the gas producers of this basin can not and will not continue to increase their production beyond an additional 5 to 6 million cubic meters per day, precisely because it is impossible to evacuate it, ” they remarked.