Argentina to boost midstream for Vaca Muerta: press
The Reuters news service reported December 21 that the Argentine government is expected to roll out a measure meant to build up midstream infrastructure to support production from the vast Vaca Muerta shale natural gas deposit.
Relying on a government source, the news service reports that Argentine president Alberto Fernandez is expected to sign off on a measure in the next few weeks that would advance a new pipeline system for the shale reserve.
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The project, if ultimately sanctioned, could take about 18 months to complete and require investments of around $1.6bn. In turn, it would add about 24mn m3/d in transport capacity from Vaca Muerta.
Fernandez in September said the government should put its maximum effort behind increasing domestic oil and gas production, sending a bill to the national congress that promoted investments in a bid to boost production from the Vaca Muerta shale formation.
This is a deal with a “very great ambition” that gives “maximum impetus to oil and gas activity,” the president said at the time.
The measure was designed to stimulate exploration and production to the point that Argentina can export its oil and gas reserves in order to bring more dollars into an economy buckling under a hefty debt burden from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Reuters reported the funds for the midstream development could come from state coffers, despite the strains from IMF loans. And without a federal budget, financial support could be challenging.
Spanning an estimated 7.5mn acres in total, the Vaca Muerta shale basin is among the largest in the world. Argentina envisions export potential from an LNG terminal that will put Vaca Muerta reserves on the international market. The terminal could have an initial liquefaction capacity of 5mn metric tons/year, rising to 10mn mt/yr under a potential second stage.