Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 04 2022

LatAmOil ARGENTINA LatAmOil

Bolivian gas is exported to Argentina via cross-border pipeline (Image: Gazprom)

This may have happened because the company Argentinian government officials, as fuel sup-
has been focusing on the need to negotiate a plies will have to be found elsewhere to ensure
new contract to replace the current one, which that IEASA’s thermal power plants (TPPs) can
is slated to expire on January 31. keep up with electricity demand during the
In any event, this is not the first sign of trou- heating season. The most obvious way to cover
ble. According to press reports, YPFB was also this gap would be to import the equivalent of
unable to meet its supply commitments last 5 mcm per day of LNG. However, this is sure
October, owing to problems at the Campo Mar- to prove more expensive than piped gas from
garita gas field that sometimes caused Bolivian Bolivia, especially since it will have to enter the
shipments to sink by up to 2.5 mcm per day. country at a regasification terminal near Buenos
The prospect of a drop in Bolivian gas Aires and then be piped to the TPPs that need
imports this winter has sparked concern among it. ™

ARGENTINA
Argentina oil production rises in December

ARGENTINA extracted a total of 559,000
barrels per day (bpd) of oil in December 2021,
pushing monthly output up to the highest level
recorded in the last nine years.
This represented a 14% year-on-year
increase, as data from the Energy Secretariat
show that the country produced about 490,400
bpd in the same month of 2021. This rise was
heavily influenced by production trends in the
Vaca Muerta shale formation, where 232 new
wells were drilled last year.
Government data also show that unconven-
tional oil production rose significantly, climb-
ing by nearly 64% to 212,000 bpd in December.
This is equivalent to nearly 38% of all national Unconventional fields helped boost oil production levels in December (Image: YPF)
oil production.
The Energy Secretariat also reported that 276 active wells in the region. The new wells were
new oil wells had been drilled in Neuquén Prov- mainly drilled by the Argentinian independent
ince, which is home to most of the Vaca Muerta Pan American Energy (PAE), the national oil
formation, in 2021, adding to the total of 1,789 company (NOC) YPF and Shell (UK)..

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