On Friday 24 June 2005, the world's most southerly natural gas production facility will be officially put into operation
by the consortium partners Wintershall Energía SA, Total Austral SA and Pan American Energy L.L.C. The three companies will produce a total of around 56 billion cubic metres of natural gas, 3.4 million tonnes of condensate and 2.4 million tonnes of LPG by 2027, from the Carina natural gas field some 80 kilometres off the Argentinean coast of Tierra del Fuego, and from the neighbouring Aries field, around 30 kilometres off the coast. It is the largest offshore project to date for the recovery of hydrocarbons in Argentina. The three consortium partners have so far invested 440 million US dollars in the development of the two fields. The operator is the French company Total Austral, which like the German BASF subsidiary Wintershall AG, has a 37.5 percent holding. Pan American Energy has a 25 percent holding.
Natural gas for the Argentinean market
Argentina has secure and acknowledged gas reserves amounting to approx. 850 billion cubic metres (31 Dec 2004), and is one of the largest natural gas producers in South and Central America. Natural gas is today the country's most important energy resource, and covers around 49 percent of energy consumption. The most important customer for natural gas among its South American neighbours is Chile. The two gas fields, Carina and Aries, belong to the significant offshore block CMA-1. The Carina and Aries natural gas fields were discovered within this block in the early 1980’s. The consortium partners prepared the field development plan for both deposits in 2001. The production platforms bearing the same names, Carina and Aries, were installed in 2004, and the necessary pipelines were laid to the mainland.
The Carina natural gas field is currently being developed in the initial phase with two horizontal boreholes. Both boreholes lead from the unmanned Carina production platform, which sits in 80 metres of water. Further boreholes are scheduled for 2013 / 2014. Three boreholes are currently scheduled for production at the neighbouring Aries natural gas field, which will also be going into production at the start of 2006. The hydrocarbon-bearing strata of the Carina field are in the sandstone of what is known as the Springhill formation, almost 1,000 metres below the seabed. The deposits of the Aries field are about 1600 metres below the surface. Gas and condensate are transported to Río Cullen on the mainland for processing, via the newly constructed underwater pipelines. In Río Cullen, the condensate is separated from the gas, stabilised, mixed with oil, then loaded onto tankers and marketed as light crude at home and to Chile and Brazil. After being separated from the condensate, the gas is taken to the Cañadón Alfa processing plant 27 kilometres to the north, and after processing it is fed into the San Martín pipeline, which mainly supplies natural gas to major Argentinean cities and industrial centres. The consortium operates both processing plants in Río Cullen and Cañadón Alfa.
Production in Argentina continuously increased
Wintershall has been active in Argentina since 1978, initially through Deminex GmbH. After the split-up of Deminex in 1998, Wintershall took over the whole of its Argentinean activities. Through continuous expansion of its investment in exploration and production, Wintershall has been able to strengthen its position in the market with increasing production, and is today the fifth-largest producer of natural gas in Argentina after Repsol YPF, BP, Pluspetrol and Total, with annual production of around 3 billion cubic metres of natural gas. The company also produces around 0.8 million tonnes of crude oil, condensate and LPG every year. Since the year 2000, Wintershall has managed to increase its production in Argentina by 30 %. The company is aiming to substantially expand its oil and gas production by 2010. Wintershall has invested 560 million dollars in Argentina since 1993. Further investment amounting to around 223 million dollars is scheduled by 2009 for the expansion of existing production and the search for new oil and gas deposits. In Argentina, the focal points of Wintershall's natural gas and oil production are in the southwestern Argentinean Neuquén Basin and in the southern Argentinean Austral Basin. The company is involved in a total of 5 blocks in these two regions. The Neuquén and Austral Basins have the largest proven natural gas deposits in Argentina. Altogether, Wintershall has holdings in 13 oil and gas fields in Argentina.
Wintershall's other exploration plans lie in the blocks Ranquil Norte and La Invernada in the Neuquén basin, plus in the Cañadón Asfalto block in Central Argentina, where Wintershall is active in exploration as the operating company in a consortium. In addition to which, Wintershall is involved in the Cruz del Sur pipeline project. This long-distance gas pipeline, commissioned in 2001, delivers Argentinean gas to Montevideo.
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