This week, at a lunch with businesspeople at the Argentine Petroleum Club, the Argentine Secretary of Energy, Eduardo Rodríguez Chirillo, informed that an international tender will be held in November for the second section of the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline.
The goal is to expand daily production to 40 million cubic meters, with a flexible route and an investment of US$2.554 billion.
The company that wins the bid will define the best route for transporting the gas. The deadline for delivery of the work is March 2026.
As always, there will be an envelope with the technical project and another with the economic project. The chosen one will be the one asking for the lowest annual fee.
This rate will be fueled by charging customers for expanding to 20 million cubic meters of gas per day. This money will be used as payment to the project’s construction company. Gas producers will receive US$950 million per year, corresponding to the expansion of 20 million cubic meters per day.
The other news is that the company Energía Argentina (Enarsa), an oil company founded by former president Néstor Kirchner in 2004, will be renamed Transportadora del Gas del Centro (TGC) and will take over the operation of the two sections of the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline: what has already been built and will be put out to tender in November.
The situation is emergency for Argentina, as Bolivia has warned that from June onwards it will no longer send gas to the country. However, despite the more than uncomfortable moments in Argentine relations with Brazil, an ambitious Memorandum of Understanding is about to be signed between the two countries to guarantee the supply of Brazilian gas in northern Argentina. Brazil would give up part of the Bolivian gas it receives. But Brazil will soon need 30 million cubic meters per day, hence the urgency in expanding the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline. In Argentina there are also other gas pipelines in progress with export plans.