Vaca Muerta Sur Oil Pipeline

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Vaca Muerta Sur Oil Pipeline, known locally by its Spanish name Oleoducto Vaca Muerta Sur or by the acronym VMOS, is an oil pipeline under construction in Argentina.

Location

The pipeline's proposed route runs from the Loma Campana oil field, near the municipality of Añelo in Neuquén province, to a new export facility at the port of Punta Colorada in Río Negro Province, Argentina. The pipeline's first segment would run from Loma Campana to the Allen pumping station in Río Negro province, while the second would continue from Allen to the Punta Colorada terminal.

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Project details: Phase 1

• Operator: YPF S.A.
• Owner: YPF S.A.
• Parent companies: YPF S.A.
• Capacity: 157,000 bpd
• Length: 128 kilometers
• Diameter: 20 inches, 30 inches
• Status: Construction
• Start year: 2025
• Cost: US $190 million

Project details: Phase 2

• Operator: VMOS (Vaca Muerta Oleoducto Sur) S.A.
• Owner: VMOS (Vaca Muerta Oleoducto Sur) S.A.
• Parent companies: YPF S.A., Vista Energy Argentina S.A.U, Pampa Energía S.A., Pan American Sur S.A. (potentially to be joined at a later date by Chevron Argentina S.R.L., Pluspetrol S.A. and/or Shell Argentina S.A.)
• Capacity: 550,000 barrels per day (bpd), expandable to 700,000 bpd
• Length: 437 kilometers
• Diameter: 30 inches
• Status: Proposed
• Start year: 2027
• Cost: US $3 billion

Background

In August 2022, Argentina's state oil company YPF announced plans to develop a 700-kilometer pipeline linking the oil fields of Vaca Muerta with a brand new export facility at the port of Punta Colorada on the Golfo San Matías. In December 2022, YPF filed an environmental impact study for the first phase of the project, under the name Oleoducto Vaca Muerta Oil Sur.

The initial phase of the pipeline would transport oil from the Loma Campana treatment plant — in the Vaca Muerta basin of Neuquén province — to the city of Allen, passing through the Lago Pellegrini pumping station. This section of the pipeline would be 127.958 kilometers long, with pipe diameters of 20 and 30 inches.

A second phase measuring 437 km with a diameter of 30 inches would continue east from Allen, initially paralleling the Oldelval Oil Pipeline before turning south to reach the Golfo San Matías.

Construction of the pipeline was expected to begin as early as 2024, with operations starting as early as 2026. Early cost estimates for building the pipeline ranged from US $1.2 billion to US $2.5 billion to US $3 billion, while estimates of the pipeline's total length have ranged from 437 km to 570 km to 700 km. In February 2023, YPF signaled that it was open to partnering with other companies to help fund development of the project.

In May 2024 YPF began construction on the first segment of the pipeline between Loma Campana and Allen, with the goal of facilitating an immediate increase in output from Vaca Muerta to supply refineries and the port of Bahía Blanca via existing pipelines while development of the second phase was still underway.

In December 2024, six major oil companies working in the Vaca Muerta area — Vista Energy Argentina S.A.U, Pampa Energía S.A., Pan American Sur S.A., Chevron Argentina S.R.L., Pluspetrol S.A. and Shell Argentina S.A. — signed a partnership agreement with YPF S.A. to jointly develop the second phase of the Vaca Muerta Sur oil pipeline.

YPF, Vista Energy, Pampa Energía, and Pan American Sur were identified as the four initial shareholders in the joint venture known as VMOS S.A., charged with the construction, development and operation of the pipeline's second phase, along with the associated Punta Colorada terminal, with its interconnected monobuoys, tank farm, and other facilities. Pampa Energía reported that it would initially hold an 18% stake in the joint venture; ownership percentages for the remaining shareholders were not disclosed. The four companies confirmed they would collectively supply 275,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) to the new pipeline, accounting for roughly half of its initial proposed capacity of 550,000 bpd. Chevron Argentina, Pluspetrol, and Shell Argentina exercised options to assume ownership stakes in VMOS S.A. at a later date and collectively supply up to an additional 230,000 bpd of oil.

Plans called for construction of the Allen-to-Punta Colorada phase to be complete by the fourth quarter of 2026, with initial testing and startup to begin soon thereafter, followed by full commercial operation in July 2027. The pipeline's capacity could eventually increase to as much as 700,000 bpd.

Opposition

The Vaca Muerta Sur Pipeline has faced opposition from local and environmental organizations. Opposing groups, like the Asamblea Defendamos Nuestro Golfo, are concerned about the economic and social impacts of the project on the local population, as well as the project's impacts on the biodiversity around the new export facility in Punta Colorada, in the Golfo de San Matías (San Matías Gulf). Punta Colorada, where the new port would be constructed, is surrounded by at least four protected areas: Península Valdés, Parque Nacional Islote Lobos, Reserva de Usos Múltiples Caleta de Los Loros, and Área Natural Protegida Bahía San Antonio. The biodiversity around this ecoregion comprises different species of birds and marine mammals that feed or reproduce in the area, including whales, elephant seals, Magellanic penguins, cormorants, dolphins, and many others.

There have also been concerns raised regarding the violation of a law (the "ley guardiana del golfo, 3308") that prohibits hydrocarbon extraction and exploration in the San Matías Gulf, which opposers claim to have been disregarded by authorities when the project was proposed. A public hearing for the project was held in August 2023, partly as a result of this situation, with mixed seemingly mixed responses from the audience and the opposing parties.