Roundup: LNG permitting, pipeline bidding rules, Vaca Muerta name change

LNG permitting

A public consultation on a planned LNG liquefaction and exporting project in Argentina will be held in person and virtually, the environment department of Río Negro province said in a statement. 

A central objective is to analyze the evaluation procedure for environmental impact studies submitted by Southern Energy.

Southern Energy, owned by British-Chinese-Argentine hydrocarbons producer Pan American Energy (PAE) and London-based LNG logistics firm Golar, wants to moor a floating production vessel off the cost of Río Negro, a province that has adhered to the federal government’s Rigi investment incentives regime. Onshore work is also involved.

The company aims to start exporting from 2027. LNG production capacity would be 2.4Mt/y, the equivalent of 11.5Mm3/d (million cubic meters per day) of gas.

ALSO READ: Southern Energy’s Argentine LNG incursion

The consultation is due to be held December 4 in San Antonio Este. Interested parties can also watch via the department's YouTube channel.

Argentina has three other publicly announced LNG projects: one presented by YPF, one by Tecpetrol and another by TGS-Excelerate Energy.

Click here for more information

Pipeline bidding rules

Argentine province Santa Fe launched a gas pipeline tender.

The call is part of a project – Plan de Gasoductos para el Desarrollo – announced in August and involving the construction of six new ducts.

Associated total investment is 196bn pesos (US$197mn).

ALSO READ: Argentine province outlines US$200mn gas pipeline plan

The overall project involves laying 610km of pipe to carry the fuel to homes and businesses.

The infrastructure will also support future decentralized electricity generation and blending with biogas is envisaged.

The current tender involves estimated outlay of 40.9bn pesos, corresponding to first phase work on five ducts. Officials have previously said the work would be carried out in stages.

Provincial energy firm Enerfe is managing the process. Bids are due to be opened December 12.

Click here for more information

Pipeline name change

Argentina’s government has changed the name of the Vaca Muerta pipeline, officially known as the Gasoducto Presidente Néstor Kirchner.

The infrastructure was built by the previous administration, which sat on the same side of the political fence as the late Peronist leader.

In a resolution, the current administration of libertarian Javier Milei renamed the pipeline Gasoducto Perito Francisco Pascasio Moreno.

Perito Moreno, as he was known, was an explorer, geographer and scientist who, in 1910, became a member of congress.

The US$2.5bn first phase of the pipeline was put into service in 2023. Midstream firm TGS submitted a project to expand capacity of the first phase via compression. An associated bidding process is pending.

A second phase of the duct, which would support flows of gas north and to the coast, has been mulled.

The pipeline was conceived as a debottlenecking project to help substitute imported fuels with domestic gas and to support export growth.