| Work Detail |
The Techint-Sacde company and the companies AESA, OPS and the Spanish company Técnicas Reunidas will be in charge of building the US$3 billion project
Works to double the oil pipeline that connects Vaca Muerta with Buenos Aires
Works to double the oil pipeline that connects Vaca Muerta with Buenos Aires
Courtesy: Oldelval
In the next few hours, the recently formed company Vaca Muerta Oil Sur (VMOS), in which the countrys main oil companies are shareholders, will sign the contracts to begin in January the largest infrastructure project in recent decades. This is the oil pipeline that will link Vaca Muerta with Punta Colorada, in Río Negro, which will allow the export of more than 500,000 barrels of oil per day starting in 2027, equivalent to almost US$13 billion per year.
The companies Techint and Sacde, owned by the Rocca and Mindlin families, respectively, were the main beneficiaries, as they were jointly awarded two sections of the project related to the construction of the pipeline, which will have 30-inch pipes. These are the 117 km section, from Allen to Chelforó, and the 320 km section, from Chelforó to Punta Colorada.
In this way, local construction companies were left with the part of the work that was also being contested by the international Pumpco, a subsidiary of MasTec, founded by Jorge Mas, the owner of the Inter Miami football club.
According to this media, the Techint-Sacde company made a slightly more competitive offer than Pumpco and presented an alternative proposal to build the two sections of pipeline together, which have a total length of 437 km, which was more beneficial for VMOS, according to what was said in one of the shareholder companies. The international company had only bid for the 320 km section.
For Pumpco, which is one of the main construction companies in the United States, this is the second time it has participated and not won a tender in the country. Previously, it had bid on the public project to reverse the northern gas pipeline, which changed the direction of the gas flow to take the molecules from Vaca Muerta to northern Argentina.
Although specific discussions with VMOS were held until the last minute in this tender, the board of directors of the new company finally indicated that Techint-Sacdes offer was more competitive. The share package of the new company is made up of the partner oil companies YPF, Pan American Energy (PAE), Vista Energy, Pampa Energía (also part of the Mindlin family), Chevron Argentina, Pluspetrol and Shell Argentina, which signed the contracts last Monday.
Oil executives signed the agreement to start construction of the VMOS pipeline; from left to right: Gerald Free, Planning and Finance Manager for Latam at Chevron; Adrian Vila, General Manager of Pluspetrol Argentina; German Burmeister, President of Shell Argentina, Chile and Uruguay; Horacio Marin, President and CEO of YPF; Miguel Galuccio, President and CEO of Vista; Marcelo Mindlin, President of Pampa Energía, and Daniel Ciaffone, Vice President of PAE
Oil executives signed the agreement to start construction of the VMOS pipeline; from left to right: Gerald Free, Planning and Finance Manager for Latam at Chevron; Adrian Vila, General Manager of Pluspetrol Argentina; German Burmeister, President of Shell Argentina, Chile and Uruguay; Horacio Marin, President and CEO of YPF; Miguel Galuccio, President and CEO of Vista; Marcelo Mindlin, president of Pampa Energía, and Daniel Ciaffone, vice president of PAE.
The Techint-Sacde company built most of the Perito Moreno gas pipeline (previously called Néstor Kirchner) in the last two years and carried out three-quarters of the reversal of the northern gas pipeline. To do so, each company equipped itself with automatic welding machines and trained its employees, anticipating greater activity in Argentina due to the lack of investment in infrastructure in recent years.
The construction of the two pumping stations to be installed in Allen and Chelforó was left in the hands of AESA, a subsidiary of YPF, and the Neuquén-based Oilfield Production Service (OPS), respectively, according to what LA NACION was able to find out.
Finally, the installation of the ship loading and unloading terminal with interconnected monobuoys and the storage tank (which is the size of a football stadium) will be carried out by the Spanish company Técnicas Reunidas, a company with more than 60 years of history, which in Argentina built the YPF refinery in Luján de Cuyo (Mendoza).
The infrastructure project adhered to the Large Investment Incentives Regime (RIGI), which grants tax and exchange benefits for investments exceeding US$200 million. The executives in charge of the project held at least two meetings at the Ministry of Economy to make the formal presentation and clarify doubts. It is expected to be the first RIGI project approved by the Government.
The construction of the pipeline and the port in Río Negro will require an investment of US$3 billion, of which US$2.528 billion are the costs of the work and the rest is equivalent to the payment of the interest rate and the expenses for insurance and project management. Most of the investment will be made in the next two years: US$1.318 billion in 2025 and US$1.123 billion in 2026.
In the coming months, the company will go to the market to seek US$1.8 billion to finance the project through a syndicated loan from banks.
The pipeline is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2026, when it will begin transporting 180,000 barrels per day. From the second half of 2027, meanwhile, the VMOS will be able to transport up to 500,000 barrels per day, with the possibility of increasing this capacity to 700,000 if necessary. This would more than double current oil exports, which amount to 193,000 barrels per day. |
