New oil, gas projects lined up for Vaca Muerta

Shell is to start a big oil project in Vaca Muerta in 2019, international media reported Thursday, while a giant FLNG vessel set out for Argentina in order to tap gas from the shale play.

The super-major plans to increase production at the Coiron Amargo Sur Oeste, Cruz de Lorena and Sierras Blancas blocks from 4,500 boepd at present to 40,000 boepd by 2021 and to 70,000 boepd by 2025, S&P Global Platts reported.

Also on Thursday, Belgium’s Exmar announced that its Tango FLNG vessel has left China for Argentina’s port of Bahia Blanca, to come on stream in Q2 2019.

“Tango FLNG is designed for a liquefaction capacity of about [500,000 tonnes] of LNG per year and is to play a central role in [NOC] YPF’s efforts to export the Vaca Muerta gas reserves to the international markets,” Exmar added in a statement.

In other news from Argentina, the government in Buenos Aires plans to increase electricity prices in the country by an average of 35% in 2019, Reuters reported.