Argentina approves Vaca Muerta natural gas pipeline expansion

Argentina has approved a 14-million cu m/day (MMcmd) expansion of the natural gas pipeline running from Vaca Muerta shale in Neuquén province to Buenos Aires province. Transportadora de Gas del Sur (TGS), a private pipeline company, proposed the expansion and would operate it. 

The Argentine government will still tender the project, with TGS to install four new compressor stations along the route of its existing 21-MMcmd pipeline if it’s the winning bidder. “The initiative includes the expansion of the Perito Moreno gas pipeline between Tratayén (Neuquén) and Salliqueló (Buenos Aires) and work on four compressor plants,” the energy secretariat said in a statement. 

The TGS expansion is expected to cost $500 million. An additional $200 million could be spent on a second expansion phase, including a 20-km lateral and additional compression. 

Harbour Energy PLC recently took a 20% stake in Pan American Energy LLC and Golar's LNG Ltd.’s project to develop a 2.45 million tonne/year (tpy) floating LNG plant in Argentina using Golar’s Hilli Episeyo (OGJ Online, Dec. 4, 2024). The plant, expected to be producing in 2027, would be Argentina’s first LNG export project (OGJ Online, July 5, 2024).

Officials from YPF SA have hinted at the possibility of also joining the LNG project, which would source its gas from Vaca Muerta.