After concluding the first stretch of the Nestor Kirchner gas pipeline, with 573 kilometer in length, linking the Vaca Muerta gas fields to the city of Buenos Aires, the government of Argentina will need another 530 kilometers of pipelines in six different stretches to explore the full potential of the gas reserves.
Such additional pipelines will require an estimated 240,000 mt of steel plates for their construction, which added to ancillary equipment, port infrastructure and liquefaction plants would require investments estimated at $40 billion.
Tenaris produced the pipes for the first stretch of the Nestor Kirchner pipeline, with plates supplied by Usiminas.
With the first stretch, Argentina will soon return to self-sufficiency in the production of gas, while with the full development of the project, Argentina will be capable to turn its current annual energy deficit of $5.0 billion into an annual surplus of $20 billion.
Companies from Malaysia, China and Russia have recently shown interest in investing in the project.