MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina forecasted to stop buying Bolivian gas next year

The President Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline with Vaca Muerta will be operational shortly, Basteiro explained

Argentina's Ambassador to Bolivia Ariel Basteiro Wednesday said his country might stop buying gas from Bolivia's YPFB as of 2024 due to new pipelines from Vaca Muerta, it was reported.

”I assume that Argentina reaches self-sufficiency as of next year (2024). I do not understand that this is a problem for Bolivia because there is demand for gas from Brazil, it is not that the gas will not have a place to put it, but that the clients will change,“ Basteiro told Bolivian media.

The ambassador explained that starting July 9 the President Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline with Vaca Muerta will be operational. In the first semester of 2024, a second gas pipeline linking Vaca Muerta with northern Argentina.

”Argentina as of July 9, this week, the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline that connects Vaca Muerta with the Argentine central gas pipeline will be enabled and then, in the middle of the year 2024, another gas pipeline that already connects Vaca Muerta with the Argentine north, so that we would be in conditions of self-supply, Argentina will have its own supply from Vaca Muerta”, he said.

In this new scenario, Argentina plans to go from importing natural gas from Bolivia to becoming a supplier to Brazil. The Néstor Kirchner pipeline will inject 11 MMm3d and it is estimated that by 2024 it will double its flux to export to the Brazilian market.

The President Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline (GPNK) has an extension of 573 kilometers and connects the cities of Tratayén (Neuqén) and Salliqueló (Buenos Aires).

Last month, YPFB President Armin Dorghaten admitted it was normal that Argentina, having a large deposit like Vaca Muerta, seeks its energy sovereignty by supplying its market.