| Work Detail |
The construction company Sacde, one of those that participated in the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline, invested more than US$30 million in the last year to add technology and accelerate infrastructure works that will allow Vaca Muerta to take advantage of its full potential.
095F4C70-72A4-43A1-902B-BE7A4D7ECE7F.jpeg
The Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline will have a strong impact on substituting energy imports, lowering spending on subsidies and moving the country towards energy self-sufficiency. However, the 573-kilometer work is only a part of the at least 3,000 kilometers of pipelines that will be required to take advantage of the enormous amounts of Vaca Muerta reserves, which has a limited window of time, as a result of the energy transition. .
For this reason, from the Sacde construction company, one of the companies that participated in the construction of the gas pipeline, they doubled the investment in technology and disbursed US$ 32 million during the last year to add machinery to improve productivity and speed up the work. For this, they also set up a school to train workers in automatic welding, which with the imported capital goods allows a first weld bead to be made in a minute and a half.
During a tour of the new school carried out by Ámbito, Pablo Brottier, Sacdes commercial director, explained the reason for the investments: “We are incorporating technology for the changes that are coming. Neuquén is expected to surpass one million barrels of oil and double gas production. And for that, infrastructure is going to be needed,” he stated.
“The consumption is far from the production centers, and due to the production levels it will be possible to export to Chile, and when there is LNG, to any country. For that, more pipelines will be needed, which is the cleanest, safest and most sustainable way. Today they are insufficient”, added Brottier.
For this reason, Carlos Coletto, manager of the oil and gas business unit, explained what the investments were, through which Sacde went from an annual average of US$16 million to US$32 million in the last year. "For what is coming, we have to be at the forefront," he said. The construction company added state-of-the-art automatic welding, bending, beveling and internal coupler equipment.
In 2019, the year in which the previous government planned to start the tender for the gas pipeline, Coletto traveled to Europe to analyze the latest technologies. In 2022, when the work finally began, Sacde rented equipment from the United States. Finally, given the infrastructure needs that are expected in the coming years, they moved forward with the purchase of the automatic welding machine, imported from Europe, being for the moment the only construction company to have this technology. Oil & Gas currently represents around 30% of business for Sacde, but they expect this to increase.
When asked by this newspaper what infrastructure needs the Vaca Muerta boom will require, Brottier made preliminary estimates: “If 1.2 million barrels of oil have to be evacuated, some 1,500 kilometers of oil pipeline have to be built. In gas, if you have to get to Brazil, make the reversal of the North, and in the event that LNG is developed, it could be another 3,000 kilometers of gas pipelines”. In addition, he added that the pipelines are not only to transport oil and gas to ports or consumption centers, but also within Vaca Muerta they are needed in the fields.
In Sacde they emphasize that one of the "keys" so that the gas pipeline could be carried out in 10 months, against 2 years that was initially estimated, was the incorporation of technology. Automatic welding reduced times and guaranteed higher quality, since it incorporates ultrasound equipment that performs safety tests, as explained by Sacde.
Key shortfall
However, despite the fact that the Central Bank authorized dollars for machinery imports (everything related to the gas pipeline had exceptional treatment), at Sacde they detected a key shortfall: welders specialized in these new technologies, who do not They were used in construction. “There was a need for 250 highly-skilled welders and there werent any,” said Maia Chmielewski, Sacdes chief financial officer. For this reason, welders who came from Turkey worked on the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline.
Thus, a month ago, Sacde inaugurated an automatic welding school in Ciudadela, where there are currently 24 people carrying out tests. “The machines do not replace work, because they are not used by themselves, but are operated by qualified employees,” Chmielewski clarified. In addition, the company signed an agreement to advance with training together with the National Technological University (UTN). |
