2023-11-22 15:19:37
Three days before the runoff, the public hearing for the seismic exploration of three offshore hydrocarbon areas. This is a project of the company Equinor, which seeks to explore the potential in the area and that is already carrying out studies in the Mar del Plata area. The hearing began shortly following 10 in the morning.
In detail, it is the environmental impact study for the 3D Seismic Record in the Argentine Sea in the Areas of the Austral Basin AUS 105, AUS 106, which Equinor is associated with YPF and CGC, and Malvinas Oeste MLO 121. An approximate area of 6,700 square kilometers (km2) will be studied within the Seismic Operational Area, which covers an area of approximately 13,215 km2.
This It is located regarding 25 kilometers offshore from Río Grande, in the Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands. The blocks were concessioned to the Norwegian firm in Offshore Round 1 carried out by the national government during the mandate of Mauricio Macri in 2018. Currently, it is the operator of six areas and a partner in two.
The virtual hearing is chaired by the Secretary of Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation, María Cecilia Nicolini. «In these four years of management As a national government, we have worked with the firm conviction that the environmental agenda is a priority«, he marked in the introduction.
After having defined Javier Milei as the next president-elect, the secretary noted: “In the face of the denialist speeches that will seek to impose themselves, in the face of privatizing fundamentalism, in the face of the ideas of polluted rivers and barbed wire oceans, Argentina has State policies, it has valuable environmental evaluation procedures to continue strengthening.
In turn, the president of Equinor Argentina, José Frey, stressed that “exploration in the Argentine Sea will allow us to determine if the resources are found. We have the experience, the will and the ability to carry out this project safely«.
He was followed by the Health, Safety and Sustainability Manager of Equinor Argentina, José Echeveste, who provided technical details regarding what the seismic exploration will be like. Among them, he referred to the seismic vessel called BGP prospector: It is a relatively large boat, which will carry regarding 66 people. He will be accompanied by two support vessels.
Equinor plans start the project in January 2024 and the duration is five months: “we hope to finish at the end of May 2024,” said Echeveste. Then the Environmental Director of Serman SA spoke, Mariano Miculicich, who presented the Environmental Impact Study and assured that there were permanent communication with different social actors involved since 2020.
«The protection measures for marine fauna are very demanding“he stressed and added that” the mitigated impacts were low or very low in all the operations included in the project, therefore, is environmentally viable to carry out«.
Offshore: The exhibition of YPF and CGC, Equinor partners in this project
Then he spoke the YPF Exploration manager, Hernán Maretto, who expressed that offshore achieve equal or greater production volumes than Vaca Muerta. “It will allow us to provide more energy to more people and reduce the inequality gap,” she highlighted. «The Argentine offshore is an opportunity to explore projects with high economic and social impact«, he indicated.
At the presentation of the project, the last speaker was the vice president of Exploration and Development CGC, Martín Cevallos, who indicated that CGC seeks this type of projects because «Argentina’s offshore production represents 15% of the gas we consume. “Argentina supplies itself considerably from offshore operations.”
The audience continues with a list of 251 speakers. To follow it, the live broadcast is available on the YouTube channel of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development:
1700666848
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