MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina set out to replace gas imports from Bolivia

Yearly savings would amount to around US$ 1.96 billion, Royon's agency explained.

Argentine authorities Friday launched the bidding process for the reversal of a pipeline so far used to import gas from bordering Bolivia in a move to supply the country's northern provinces with Vaca Muerta's output, it was reported.

 As per the new state of things, gas from Vaca Muerta would feed the provinces of Córdoba, Tucumán, La Rioja, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero, Salta, and Jujuy, both for domestic use and for the generation of electricity through thermal power plants as well as other industries, it was explained.

Argentina might even export gas to northern Chile, central Brazil, and also Bolivia.

“With this project, we are promoting Argentine jobs, guaranteeing energy supply, and reducing costs,” Economy Minister and presidential candidate Sergio Massa said in Córdoba.

The project will require an investment of US$ 710 million, of which US$ 540 million will be financed with a CAF (the Development Bank of Latin America) loan.

The initiative is to be active by mid-2024 and generate 3,000 direct jobs and 12,000 indirect jobs. It will entail the extension of the North Gas Pipeline by 62 kilometers, the reversal of the gas injection direction in four existing compressor plants, and the construction of a 122-kilometer gas pipeline in the province of Córdoba.

Energy Secretary Flavia Royon said this work will make it possible for the country to stop depending on imports from Bolivia, whose gas reserves are in decline, in addition to the resulting savings in import substitution, estimated at US$ 1.96 billion a year.

Massa insisted Argentina was “finishing the way out of the crisis” and, thus, what lies ahead is “development, inclusion and the construction of a federal country.”