Puna Gas Pipeline

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Puna Gas Pipeline is an operating natural gas pipeline in Argentina.

Location

The Puna Gas Pipeline starts at a junction with the Atacama Gas Pipeline in Río Las Burras, near the intersection of highways RN 52 and RP 38 outside Susques, Jujuy province, Argentina. From here, it runs south and west through San Antonio de los Cobres to Salar de Pocitos, Salta province, Argentina.

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Project Details

• Operator: Remsa
• Parent Company: Remsa
• Capacity: 280,000 m³ per day (9.89 million cubic feet per day)
• Length: 186 km
• Diameter: 6 inches
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 2007
• Related infrastructure: Atacama Gas Pipeline

Background

The Puna Gas Pipeline was originally conceived as an offshoot of the Gas Atacama Pipeline, designed to serve mining operations in northwestern Argentina; construction of the pipeline began between 2003 and 2005 with the laying of 16,000 meters of pipe from the town of San Antonio de Los Cobres. The completed pipeline, which began operating in 2007, is 186 km long, with the capacity to carry 280,000 cubic meters (9.9 million cubic feet) of natural gas per day. As of April 2022, the pipeline was operating at full capacity.

Proposed expansion

For the past several years there has been talk of expanding the Puna Gas Pipeline to supply growing demand from mines in the region; however, the details of any proposed expansion remain sketchy.

In November 2018 Energas convened a meeting of gas distribution companies to promote the development of a pipeline extension that would fulfill a need for additional gas for Andean mining projects by 2025. The distribution company Gasnor was named as a potential developer of the project.

As of 2020, demand for new gas pipelines to supply northwestern Argentina's lithium mines and other mining operations remained high. In February 2020, Ricardo Alonso, Salta province's Minister of Mining and Energy, affirmed that increasing mining activity in Argentina's Puna region continues to spur demand for new energy supplies, especially natural gas, and noted that gas for any new pipeline project could be supplied from the Sierras Subandinas and Llanura Chaqueña basin in the departments of San Martín, Orán and Rivadavia.

As of April 2022, persistent concerns about gas supply shortages in the region were again prompting talk of building an extension of the Puna Gas Pipeline to supply the department of Los Andes. However, Alberto Castillo, the head of pipeline operator Remsa, expressed confidence that recent proposals to transport natural gas north from Vaca Muerta, coupled with existing supplies from Bolivia and northwestern Argentina, would be sufficient to meet the region's needs.