Techint lost again and a key gas pipeline was left for Víctor Contreras and the Italian SICIM

In this way, Techint once again lost the business of the year, after being left out of tube manufacturing at the beginning of 2026 due to the indian company Welspun.

As far as he could know Clarionthe construction companies Víctor Contreras and SICIM They won the 3 trunk sections for a total of 471 kilometers with an offer close to 530 million dollarswhile OPS won the compressor plant in exchange for about US$95 million.

The gas pipeline, put out to tender by the investment vehicle San Matías Pipeline, will go from Otrayén, in Neuquén – in the “heart” of Vaca Muerta – to the San Matías Gulf, in Río Negro, with a natural gas transportation capacity of 27 million m3 per day (MMm3/d).

The proposal of the Transitional Union of Companies (UTE) Víctor Contreras and SICIM It was 15% cheaper -with some US$ 80 million difference than that of the Techint – Sacde consortium. Also left behind was the union of the American Pumpco, the Italian Bonatti and the local Contreras Hermanos

The construction companies of Paolo Rocca and the family of Marcelo and Damián Mindlin They built the Vaca Muerta gas pipeline in 2023, the expansion of Oleoductos del Valle (Oldelval) in 2024 and are finishing the Vaca Muerta Oil Sur (VMOS) pipeline this year, but now they are left without this business continuity.

In addition, Pumpcoof the brothers More -owners of the Inter Miamithe club where the world champions play Leo Messi and Rodrigo de Paul-, they added another defeat in oil tenders and They still cannot enter Argentina.

Meanwhile, OPS – owned by businessman Carlos Pérez, owner of the newspaper Black River and with growing business development in Neuquén– beat Sacde itself, BTU -also with recent experience in gas pipelines-, Pecom -owned by the Perez Companc family- and the construction company Contreras Hermanos. The compressor plant will be installed at kilometer 80 of the route, with 46,000 HP of power.

Southern Energy (SESA) is a consortium made up of 30% Pan American Energy (PAE, owned by the Bulgheronis); YPF, by 25%; Pampa Energía (of the Mindlins and their partners), by 20%; the British company with German capital Harbor Energy, by 15%; and the Norwegian Golar LNG, owner of the vessels, by 10%.

The company has the legal protection of the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), with a disbursement that will reach US$ 6,878 million in the coming decades, of which US$ 2,441 million will be invested until April 2027.

The works will begin in the middle of this year and should be ready shortly before the middle of 2028, when it reaches shores of Río Negro the natural gas liquefaction ship MK II, which is being converted in China.

Previously, starting in spring 2027, SESA will sell liquefied gas for an equivalent of 2.45 million metric tons per year (MTPA) or about 11.5 million m3 per day of natural gas through the vessel Hilli Episeyo, which is finishing a contract in Cameroon this year and will then go to a Singapore shipyard to prepare it before its arrival in Argentina.

The consortium led by PAE has already secured an LNG export contract from the German public company Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE) for 2 MTPA for 8 years.

With the almost 6 MTPA of capacity that both ships of the project will add, the foreign sales business will add about 2.5 billion dollars per year.