Energía Argentina signs Tenaris to supply Vaca Muerta pipes
Energía Argentina has signed Tenaris to supply welded pipes for Stage 1 construction of the 563-km (350-mile) Presidente Nestor Kirchner Gas Pipeline (GPNK), which will move Vaca Muerta shale natural gas from Tratayén, Neuquén province, to Saliquelló, in Buenos Aires province. Construction of the roughly 850-MMcfd pipeline is expected to take 18 months.
The state company will buy 582 km of 36-in. OD pipe and 74 km of 30-in OD pipe, covering both the first stage of GPNK and associated projects. Tenaris’s mill in Valentín Alsina, Buenos Aires, will manufacture the pipes.
Earlier this month Energía Argentina launched an engineering, procurement, and construction tender for the pipeline, scheduled to close July 8 (OGJ Online, June 7, 2022).
The Neuquén government earlier this year granted Chevron Corp. a hydrocarbon concession for unconventional exploitation that could open new development in the northern area of the Vaca Muerta shale formation (OGJ Online, Apr. 12, 2022).
Natural gas production from the Late Triassic-Late Cretaceous Vaca Muerta peaked in August 2021 at almost 1.6 bcfd, according to Rystad Energy, before slipping to roughly 900 MMcfd.
In 2019 Vaca Muerta had technically recoverable natural gas resources of 308 tcf.
Christopher E. Smith | Editor in Chief
Christopher brings 27 years of experience in a variety of oil and gas industry analysis and reporting roles to his work as Editor-in-Chief, specializing for the last 15 of them in midstream and transportation sectors.
