In a routine test, a section of a key project to replace imports and save dollars broke

A part of a public works strategic for the country suffered a failure in its construction on Thursday. It is that One of the sections of the reversal of the Northern Gas Pipeline had a break today at 10:00 in the morning during the routine hydraulic testing prior to its completion.

The incident occurred during the resistance test of the pipe with hydraulic pressure, when a connector elbow of the duct manufactured in Brazil exploded, the portal reported. Online Politics. There were no injuries and no gas leak..

Another fault was also recorded, as explained to Clarion sources familiar with the project: one elbow swelled up too much, but did not burst.

Both failures occurred at the La Carlota compressor plant, at kilometer 0 of the section that the Temporary Union of Companies (UTE) formed by the construction companies Techint and Sacde They have between La Carlota and Tío Pujio – Federal Integration Gas Pipeline -, in the province of Córdoba, with the supervision of the public company Argentine Energy (Enarsa).

“The line involved is a secondary construction part of the facilities associated with the project, which will be part of an additional functionality of the works. It has a scheduled delivery date of December 10, 2024, and is not associated with or compromises the authorization for the entry of gas and transportation through the Federal Integration Pipeline, which is already constructively guaranteed and delivered,” explained UTE.

“Hydraulic tests are safe processes, which are part of the process of constructing a pipeline and which are carried out in a controlled manner, precisely to guarantee the integrity of the materials and to detect possible failures in advance of the operation,” they jointly announced.

They added: “The strict safety procedures applicable to these tests were verified as being complied with, so there was no personnel in the vicinity of the element that registered the failure.”

“It was a material failure. That is what hydraulic tests are for. There is no need to be alarmed“It is a normal thing to ensure that there are no problems and, if there are, to solve them,” official sources said.

“Quality control failed at the factory and also at the contractorswhen they received it,” the Government noted.We will arrive on schedule for the inauguration, which will be on October 10th.“, they promised.

However, private sector sources said that the error in the inspection was the fault of Enarsa, which recently lost some highly qualified technical professionals who were supposed to be working on the project, something that the public company denied.

As a background, the Techint and Sacde UTE was the main construction company of the Vaca Muerta President Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline (GPNK) without any technical problems between 2022 and 2023.

The construction of the 122-kilometer section between La Carlota and Tío Pujio links the Centro Oeste and Norte gas pipelines to carry more natural gas from Vaca Muerta (national production at US$3.50 per million BTU) to replace gas imports from Bolivia (US$20 per million BTU).

To this end, work is also being done to reverse the compressor plants in the Northern Gas Pipeline, to change the flow of gas and take it to Córdoba, Santiago del Estero, Catamarca, Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy.

In that area of ​​the country There are dozens of high-power thermal power plantswhich require natural gas to produce energy.

Both from the Government and from the private sector They guarantee that there will be no problems with the start-up of this work, and that this failure on a secondary part will not affect the supply.

What is certain is that Bolivia has not been supplying gas to Argentina lately due to the decline in its production, and that Brazil is suffering from a drought that is reducing its hydroelectric generation, which is why it is a priority buyer of Bolivian gas.

In the event of a possible gas shortage, Argentina would have to pay very expensive liquid fuels in the summer – above US$ 20 – or resort to gas triangulations with Brazil or Chile.