Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 09 2022

LatAmOil PARAGUAY LatAmOil

The retail prices recorded by the newspaper were
higher than the official rates set by Petróleos
Paraguayos (Petropar), the state-run petroleum
product concern.
This is because Petropar authorised filling
stations that were more than 50 km away from
its plant in Villa Elisa to charge higher rates that
reflected their freight costs.
MercoPress reported in mid-February that
Petropar’s decision to raise prices represented a
reversal of previous pledges to keep rates stable
at least until the end of the month.
At the time, the policy shift led some Argen-
tinian fuel retailers to express concern about the
possibility that Paraguayan consumers might
cross the border to fill their tanks and take Filling station’s price list, adjusted for
advantage of pricing differentials. distance from Villa Elisa (Image: Petropar)
As a result, local authorities in Posadas, an
Argentinian city near the border with Para- These new instructions were supposed to take
guay, instructed filling station owners to charge effect on February 11, but it was not clear as of
higher prices and set quotas for foreign buyers. press time what the impact had been. ™

ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires authorises IEASA to build

pipeline for gas from Vaca Muerta fields

ARGENTINA’S government has authorised When finished, the conduit will pump gas
Integración Energética SA (IEASA), a state- from Vaca Muerta fields to key demand centres
owned oil, gas and power company, to build a in Argentina.
new pipeline that will serve unconventional gas IEASA will be obligated to give the national
fields in the Vaca Muerta shale formation. oil company (NOC) YPF priority access to
Buenos Aires gave IEASA a green light for the pipeline’s capacity and make any remain-
the project last week, when it issued a decree ing capacity available to other producers on a
granting the company a concession for the pro- non-discriminatory basis.
ject. Under the decree, IEASA has the authority According to information published by Nat-
to establish a trust that will be responsible for ural Gas Intelligence (NGI), IEASA is carrying
building, maintaining and operating the link, out the project in multiple phases. The first
which will be known as the Néstor Kirchner phase, which is expected to cost around $1.5bn,
pipeline. will involve laying pipe along a 656-km route
According to press reports, IEASA has from Tratayen, a site in Neuquén Province, to
already utilised that authority to call a tender to Salliqueló, a town in Buenos Aires Province. It
obtain pipes for the project and will soon launch is due to begin operating in the winter of 2023
another bidding contest to select a construction and will have a capacity of 24mn cubic metres
contractor. per day.

The Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline will be built in multiple stages (Photo: IEASA)

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 09 03•March•2022