TGN to invest $2.2 billion in Vaca Muerta pipeline and plans gas exports to Brazil

Transportadora de Gas del Norte (TGN) will invest $2.2 billion in the Manuel Belgrano pipeline, a 753-kilometer project that will carry gas from Vaca Muerta to central and northern Argentina and that the company expects to bring into operation in April 2029, according to Bloomberg Línea.

The route will connect Tratayén, in Neuquén, with La Carlota, in Córdoba, and cross five provinces. TGN estimates the infrastructure will replace about $700 million a year in imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and diesel, and generate gas exports worth around $450 million a year to neighboring countries. Infobae reports that the first markets are Bolivia, which will need gas for its domestic market from 2029, and northern Chile, with Brazil at a later stage through pipelines crossing Bolivian territory. The project adds Argentine export supply to Southern Cone markets, where Bolivian gas and US LNG compete.

Of the total, $1.5 billion corresponds to the main pipeline and $700 million to complementary works on the TGN system: 147 kilometers of loops and up to 71,000 HP across five compressor plants. Initial capacity will be about 13 million cubic meters per day (MMm3/d), and expansions will add up to a further 14 MMm3/d. The first stretch, 278 kilometers, will be 36 inches in diameter, and the remaining 475 kilometers, 30 inches. At peak activity the company estimates around 2,000 jobs. TGN CEO Horacio Pizarro said that "Argentina has an extraordinary opportunity to transform, with trunk infrastructure, Vaca Muerta gas into competitive energy, with local production, import substitution and the generation of exportable surplus."

TGN's schedule calls for a capacity auction for the new pipeline in late September and the submission and award of bids in late November. The application to join the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI) and the outcome of that auction are the project's next checkpoints.

This article was written with AI assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.