Project Duplicate: there will be a jump in transportation capacity

By Oldelval
June 14, 2024

This is a machine translation of the original press release issued in Spanish.

Ricardo Hösel, CEO of Oldelval, offered details about the development of the Duplicate Project, highlighting that “the work is more than 60% complete” and announced that it will end “at the beginning of next year.” In addition, he pointed out that in December there could be a “small jump in capacity of about 50 thousand b/d.”

During his participation in the panel “How to unblock the physical and regulatory bottlenecks of the oil and gas transportation and processing system” at the event organized by EconoJournal, called "Midstream & Gas Day", Hösel commented on his vision of the current regulatory framework. and reviewed some of the projects that Oldelval has underway.

“The Duplicate Project work is more than 60% complete,” said Hösel. Doubling will allow transporting an additional 300,000 barrels of crude oil to the Atlantic through the laying of pipelines along 525 kilometers with an investment of 1.2 billion dollars.

Currently, the work has three main work fronts: two for pipes and one for power. “The two pipeline fronts are very advanced on the original schedule,” said the company's CEO.

"With this work, the Basin, which today is producing about 450 thousand barrels, will be able to exceed 700 thousand barrels and, the Basin will be able to develop its full potential until 2026 without any restrictions as it has had in the last three years," he considered.

Hösel also referred to the regulatory issue that incorporates the draft Base Law discussed in Congress and the so-called RIGI (Incentive Regime for Large Investments), planned for investments that exceed 200 million dollars and which contemplates 30 years of exchange stability and tax and facilities for the importation of equipment the CEO of the country's main oil midstream company. In this regard, he maintained that "I think we are all going to agree that it is a fundamental element for the development of our industry, where investments are of very high amounts and what is needed are clear rules, predictability, exchange, tax and regulatory stability, especially in large infrastructure projects."

However, he asserted that “in the last three years the Neuquén Basin has doubled its production in a context of uncertainty. Growth could be exponential if we had predictability and legal stability.”

Next projects

Finally, he referred to the Duplicar Norte Project, assuring that “construction will begin next year, which will allow expanding the upstream transportation capacity of the “Allen” pumping station (from Sitio Hernández to Allen) and that is the next bottleneck that is coming.” “We hope that, with all these works, and others that are being developed, the Basin will no longer have transportation bottlenecks and that infrastructure will always come before production,” concluded the CEO of Oldelval.

About Oldelval

Oleoductos del Valle (Oldelval) is the main midstream company in the region. Its activity involves the comprehensive management and development, operation and maintenance of more than 1,700 kilometers of pipelines that constitute a unique and integrated network. It crosses four provinces of the country and extends from Rincón de los Sauces and Plaza Huincul in the province of Neuquén, continuing its route through Río Negro and La Pampa and finally reaching Puerto Rosales, province of Buenos Aires.