Roundup: Virtual pipeline MOU, Enap unit offers, offshore drilling

Virtual gas pipeline services MOU

Three US companies signed an MOU to provide virtual gas pipeline services for customers working in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta unconventional hydrocarbons formation.

In a statement, energy solutions firm Signal Power Group said it and affiliate Eco2Power inked the accord with Sapphire Gas Solutions, a virtual pipeline services player.

Sapphire is a turnkey virtual pipeline services company with a fleet of mobile CNG, LNG, and recompression equipment. The company transports gas to offtakers when pipeline infrastructure is not available or not near the gas source.

Signal and Eco2Power are providers of equipment that use CNG, LNG and biomethane: pressure pumping units, generators, and compressors.

The bulk of upstream investment in Argentina is being injected into Vaca Muerta. The biggest shale gas players are YPF, Tecpetrol, Total Austral and Pan American Energy, according to a report from local consultancy Economía & Energía. Production of unconventional gas in Argentina (shale and tight) climbed 15.3% year-on-year in April to 83.7 million cubic meters per day. 

Completion of midstream work would help trigger further output growth in the formation. A major flow-reversal project designed to tap Vaca Muerta gas is underway while a tender to build the second phase of the Vaca Muerta pipeline is due to be launched this year, officials have said previously. Midstream firm TGS recently proposed a US$700mn gas dispatch solution.

Enap Argentina exit

Two parties have submitted offers to acquire Argentine assets of Chilean state oil company Enap, local media outlet EconoJournal reported.

They are Canadian-listed driller Crown Point Energy and Frontier, a company led by Canadian businessman Warren Levy, it said.

Enap operates in Argentina via a unit of its international exploration and production division, Enap Sipetrol.

In April, Enap said it was exiting the upstream business in Argentina. Present in Argentina since 1991, the company said financial factors combined with a commitment to the sustainability of the company over the long term were drivers.

With Argentine counterpart YPF, Enap produces hydrocarbons offshore and onshore and two years ago, the two signed an MOU to explore joint production and export opportunities at Vaca Muerta.   

Enap Sipetrol production at the offshore Magallanes license was 420m3/d oil and 2.16Mm3/d gas in April, according to operator data from industry chamber IAPG.

Enap imports crude oil from the Neuquén basin via the Otasa link.

Crown Point production in Argentina corresponds to participating interests in concessions in the Austral, Neuquén and Cuyana basins. The firm is also carrying out an exploration program in Mendoza province, at the Cerro de Los Leones license. 

In February, Crown Point entered into an agreement with Pan American Energy to acquire the latter’s 100% working interest in the Piedra Clavada and Koluel Kaike hydrocarbon extraction concessions in Santa Cruz province.

Crown Point produced an average of 1,246boe/d in 1Q24, down from 1,532boe/d a year earlier, citing technical problems in Mendoza and natural gas decline rates in Tierra del Fuego province (Austral basin).

Crown Point and JV partners are exporting some oil across the border by truck to Enap’s San Gregorio refinery in Chile, Crown Point said in a 1Q24 results report.   

Levy is CEO of consulting firm Frontier Advisory and former Argentine head of energy companies President Energy and PentaNova Energy, according to a LinkedIn profile.

Offshore well

Drilling of Argentine offshore exploration well Argerich-1 has finished, local media outlet Más Energía reported.

The well is the first drilled in ultra-deepwater off the Argentine coast.

Sample analysis work now starts, it added.

Argerich-1 is within Argentine Norte basin licence CAN-100, led by Equinor, whose partners are YPF and Shell.