Roundup: Vaca Muerta treatment plant permitting, YPF pipeline construction bids

Permitting

Argentine driller Pampa Energía – working to expand its oil footprint – has filed for environmental review a Vaca Muerta treatment plant project.

The facility is planned for the Rincón de Aranda concession, where gas heavyweight Pampa is pumping in capex to increase production.

Pampa has filed an environmental impact study with the environment and natural resources department of Neuquén province, the jurisdiction that is pulling in the bulk of upstream oil and gas investment. 

The core of the project is an initial 3,500m3/d (22,014b/d) crude processing module. A second module of the same capacity may be added if output requires it, according to the document, available here, produced by consultancy Confluencia Ambiente & Seguridad.

Oil separated from water and associated gas would be dispatched via duct or via truck, while the gas would be dispatched through a future pipeline to the area of Tratayén.

Electricity for the project would come from gas-powered generators. Pampa also plans to install diesel-powered backup capacity.

Pampa said: “There are other associated projects that will be built in parallel, for example, oil pipelines, gas pipelines, substations, power lines, injection wells, production wells. The above projects will be presented in a timely manner to authorities.”

Pampa oil output – accounting for around 5% of the company’s hydrocarbons production – was 5,400b/d in Q2, up 7% year-on-year. 

Pampa expects company oil output to climb to around 48,000b/d in 2027, driven by Rincón de Aranda, with the higher production requiring further facilities and logistics investment. 

Indeed, second phase work would involve outlay on further infrastructure, the document states. 

Pipeline construction

More than seven parties bid to build the second tranche of state-controlled hydrocarbons company YPF’s multibillion-dollar Vaca Muerta Sur oil export pipeline, local media outlet La Nación reported.

The 437km stretch will run between Allen in Río Negro province and a future export terminal on the jurisdiction’s coast. The infrastructure is due to enter service in 2H26, with a capacity rate of 180,000b/d. This is expected to climb to around 500,000b/d in 2027 and about 700,000b/d from 2028, if demand is in place. 

Parties Sacde-Techint, Pumpco and BTU are among the bidders, La Nación said. Contracts are due to be signed this half and the project would be built under the Rigi investment incentives regime. 

Work has started on the US$200mn, 128km first stretch, between Añelo in Neuquén province and Allen, where, in the meantime, output could be injected into the Oldelval system which connects the locality to export facilities in Buenos Aires province and is being expanded. Construction of the first stretch could be completed by the turn of the year. Associated capacity is expected to reach 350,000b/d in 1H25 and climb to 450,000b/d by the end of 2026. 

CREDIT: YPF. VMS = Vaca Muerta Sur; OTASA + VMN = Otasa export duct to Chile plus the Vaca Muerta Norte feeder pipeline; PROC REF LC & PH = processing level at the Luján de Cuyo and Plaza Huincul refineries; OLDELVAL = Oldelval infrastructure. Figures in KBBL/D.   

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