Shell, Pan American Energy (PAE) and Pluspetrol today inaugurate the pipeline Sierras Blancas-Allen, which will increase oil transport capacity from Vaca Muerta to refineries and export points. With an extension of 105 kilometers and 16 inches in diameter, the energy infrastructure works allow the collection and transport of up to 125,000 barrels of oil per day. The Minister of Economy, Sergio Massawill be present at the ceremony.
Shell operates in formation dead cow the regions of Sierras Blancas, Cruz de Lorena and Coirón Amargo. But the works will make it possible to transport not only the production of the company but also that of the other oil operators that the pipeline crosses on its way.
The work has been operational since the end of 2022, consists of extending the capacity for the evacuation of oil produced at Vaca Muerta to processing centers (refineries), and the export of crude.
“Today is a very important day for the Argentinian energy sector” (Massa)
It required an investment of around 80 million dollars, and in its construction, carried out by Techint-SIMA, some fifty contractors and suppliers, mostly local and regional, also took part.
It will be operated by Oleoductos del Valle (Oldelval) and will be connected at Allen to the main pipeline that crosses the Neuquén basin. It will expand the current network, pave the way for increased production and the existing bottleneck in the intermediate infrastructure due to the large increase in production that occurred at Vaca Muerta. To take only the case of Shell, production has gone from 6,000 to 8,000 barrels per day in 2018 to around 45,000 currently.
Massa assured that “today is a very important day for the Argentine energy sector”.
“The inauguration of the Sierras Blancas-Allen Pipeline will increase the production capacity of basin operators to evacuate production, which today limits project scale growth,” Massa said on Twitter.
In addition, he pointed out that “this 105 kilometer work between the provinces of Neuquén and Río Negro will connect Vaca Muerta to the main pipeline of Oldelval and its Duplicate project, and will strengthen the export routes of the basin (Oldelval-OTASA )”.
“Finally, after the suspension by the previous government, we favor the return of Shell to the 929 regime”, underlined the minister.
“The inauguration of the Sierras Blancas-Allen pipeline will increase the production evacuation capacity of the operators of the basin, which today limits the growth of scale of the projects” (Massa)
Decree 929/2013 was the first regulation to encourage the development of Vaca Muerta, issued by former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, to quickly lead the joint investment of Chevron and YPF in Loma Campana, the first large-scale operation shale oil scale at Dead cow.
However, no oil company has ever been allowed to agree to export 20% of its oil and gas production without restraint and to dispose of the foreign exchange generated by these sales abroad, which is the spirit of this decree.
Finally, this year the government established the requirements and conditions that Vaca Muerta oil companies must meet to access the benefits of the decree.
Massa will be accompanied by the Secretary of Energy of the Nation, Flavia Royón, and the governors of Río Negro, Arabela Carreras and Neuquén, Omar Gutiérrez, among other national and provincial authorities and those of the 10 municipalities undergoing the works.
Continue reading:
Inflation in January, around 6%, will leave a high floor for the first quarter
Loan for reserves and “soybean dollar 3”: the market supports the measures but doubts that they are enough
Meat prices: what will be the impact of government measures for consumers