Indian company wins major LNG pipe project in Vaca Muerta

Indian firm Welspun Corp was chosen by Southern Energy (SESA) as its pipe supplier for a massive US$15 billion project to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Vaca Muerta field, beating local company Tenaris, part of the Techint group. The news was originally reported on Sunday by La Nación newspaper, and confirmed on Monday by Nicolás Gandini, director of Econo Journal, and one of Argentina’s top experts on the energy sector. According to Gandini, it’s the first time “in Techint’s more than 70 years in the country”, that its steel company — the only local manufacturer of tubes for the oil and gas industry — has not been chosen for a major energy project. Welspun also beat 13 other bids from companies in Spain, China, Colombia, Mexico, Japan, Greece, and Turkey, La Nación reported. “The winning bid barely exceeded US$200 million and was 40% lower than Techint’s,” said journalist Pablo Fernández Blanco. The project Southern Energy is a consortium that groups state company YPF with Pan American Energy (PAE), Pampa Energía, Harbour Energy and Golar. The contract it awarded to Welspun is for the supply of pipes for a nearly 500-kilometer pipeline that will carry gas from Vaca Muerta, in Neuquén, to the coast of Río Negro, where it will be liquefied and exported by ship. This is one of the largest projects to be developed during President Javier Milei’s administration.  In December, Paolo Rocca, chief executive officer of the Techint group, threatened to close a Tenaris plant in Valentín Alsina if pipes are imported from China or India for the Vaca Muerta LNG project, warning about the loss of local industrial competitiveness and the impact on employment in the face of offers up to 40% cheaper.