good grief! . . . .
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Meanwhile...
https://www.clarin.com/economia/economia/vaca-muerta-nueva-pampa-humeda-generara-us-30-000-millones_0_HknYRap8m.html https://www.clarin.com/economia/economia/vaca-muerta-nueva-pampa-humeda-generara-us-30-000-millones_0_HknYRap8m.html
It's 7 in the newly inaugurated double-hand route that goes from the city of Neuquén to a few kilometers before reaching Añelo. Omnibus, vans and cars move between the hurry and the little patience, almost like in the porteña 9 de Julio a Friday at 6 o'clock in the afternoon. Añelo is the gateway to Vaca Muerta and is a reflection of the revolution that the oil business is experiencing with millions of dollars in investments , gigantic equipment, drilling pipes that function as satellites, control rooms that look like NASA exits and wells all sides that originate a growing production of oil and unconventional gas.
This exponential growth, which contrasts with the crisis suffered by the rest of the industry, is advancing so quickly that it can soon be met with dangerous bottlenecks . It would be a paradox for the second shale gas reserve in the world and the fourth for shale oil. The economic historian Pablo Gerchunoff calls Vaca Muerta "the new Humid Pampa" . Paolo Rocca, CEO of Techint, made calculations and ensures that in five years, the country can move to a production of 200 million cubic meters of gas per day and one million barrels of oil per day, which would represent US $ 30,000 million per year and it would generate exports for US $ 15,000 million , equivalent, to the present values, to half of the exports of grains and oils.
YPF will invest US $ 550 million and build a new headquarters in RÃo Negro
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YPF will invest US $ 550 million and build a new headquarters in RÃo Negro
Although beyond the currencies, the first benefit, as they are concerned to highlight here, is that Argentina will stop importing gas and lower the price , with what that implies for public accounts and for consumers.
But when did the shale phenomenon start? Vaca Muerta is the first successful case of production outside the United States . In Argentina, Pablo Bizzotto made YPF the first well in 2012. Bizzotto talks about the company as a shale pioneer and is currently the executive vice president of the state oil company.
In Loma Campana, 120 kilometers from the city of Neuquén, is the base of operations of YPF for unconventional oil. Gustavo Astie, Business Manager of Non-Conventional Assets, says that they are the country's second deposit after Cerro Dragón in Chubut. And he prefers to emphasize the dynamic effect on the economy. YPF occupies with its concessions 12,000 square kilometers of the 30,000 of Vaca Muerta, has 470 employees and 4,000 contractedthat generate more work for an activity that requires transportation, the most varied inputs and a complex logistics. And it has as partners in different operations the US Chevron and Dow, Petronas, the energy company of Malaysia, the Norwegian Equinor, the French Total, the Anglo-Dutch Shell and the local Pampa EnergÃa, in the hands of the Mindlin family .
Only with Chevron YPF went from the stage of production of pilot wells to the operation, something that is about to be finalized also with Petronas and a new international player whose name they keep in reserve. The shale already explains 20% of YPF's total production with 632 active wells in production and 12 drilling equipment, 40,500 barrels of oil per day and almost 8 million cubic meters of gas. In the last 5 years they invested US $ 10,000 million and in 2018, US $ 1,500 million.
The export of gas to Chile will begin in September
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The export of gas to Chile will begin in September
But not all are roses in a production that poses permanent challenges. Chemical engineer by profession, Paula Castro, 33, was in charge of the design and start-up of the shale oil treatment plant to strip it of water and salts and send it to the pipeline. The plant that stands out with tanks of impressive size was inaugurated in 2016 and they are already small . They are expanding it with the disbursement of another US $ 23 million. It is not the only thing. They will expand the oil pipeline that takes the oil to BahÃa Blanca and are about to finish another gas pipeline.
Bottleneck
Among the priorities for the operators of this Neuquén basin is the train that can connect Bahia Blanca with Añelo and serve to bring the tubes and sand, among other inputs that are used in large quantities. The train exists and arrives from Bahia to Chichinales, in RÃo Negro. There are 200 kilometers left and a consortium of companies that would compromise long-term cargo contracts seems to be close to realizing it.
In Vaca Muerta, with its own concession , Tecpetrol, from Techint, also stands strong , and in FortÃn de Piedras it reached in just three years the 10 million cubic meters of shale gas. They are followed by Total and PAE, from the Bulgheroni family. Shell seeks to be another player of weight.
Among these oil tankers with geologists, engineers and sub 40 technicians who express to the professionals of the XXI century, the obsession to be technological vanguard and efficiency is a common denominator. Thus, the wells that initially left around US $ 20 million today cost half and were only US $ 3 million more expensive than in the United States, which began more than 20 years ago and has drilled 10,000 wells. In this drastic reduction of costs, it was important to understand production as a factory and technology. "We're on top of the best in the world," Astie boasts. And although he does not mention it, the agreement with the union for greater productivity was key.
Vaca Muerta started with vertical drilling wells, but since 2013 they have been improving the systems for the 3-kilometer-long horizontal wells that carry about 40 holes for the essential injections of water and sand that allow fracturing the rock and extracting the gas or oil hidden in its bowels.
The unconventional fuel already represents 20% of the YPF production , which is completed with 50% of the conventional and 30% of the recovery of the old wells. In a Neuquén converted into a thriving city with brand new cars, shops with first brands, shopping malls, newly opened hotels and buildings that alter the appearance of its streets with poplars and low houses, it will be enough to cross the bridge that joins it with Cippoletti to be placed in another large reserve of unconventional gas, the so-called Fernández Oro, which YPF bought from Apache. Slide that is the next challenge.
With Vaca Muerta they assure that a company that is in dimensions a second YPF is being born . It is not enough for a firm that, apart from oil, is already the first logistics company in the country, the second hamburger seller after McDonald's and the third in connectivity after Telecom and Telefónica.Comment
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Canada just paid over 4 billion for fairy dust.
Trudeau negotiating Nafta not going to end well.
As a country we’re screwed.
Canada s third world shit hole.
Mexico’s even better than we areComment
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Far as I am concerned, this reconciliation thing is DOA.Comment
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Nutjob got her wish after all. The anti-oil protests she used to attend have now paid off.Originally posted by SASKFARMER3 View Post
Let’s hope grain shipments don’t get stalled too bad as a result of this silliness under Trudeau with the extra layers of approvals he created.Comment
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