The Néstor Kirchner pipeline was duly launched on June 20, Flag Day, on the eve of winter, but with rather less fanfare than originally planned, taking the form of a simple worker opening a valve to permit the liquid gas to flow the first 28 km of the pipeline – the official inauguration is scheduled for Independence Day, on July 9. The remaining 544 kilometres taking Vaca Muerta shale gas up to Saliqueló, Buenos Aires Province, will be activated in five stages, the last comprising half the pipeline on the eve of the inauguration. Opinions were divided as to whether the delay was for technical or political reasons, since the ruling Unión por la Patria had no official candidates confirmed ahead of the deadline for defining candidacies. Economy Minister Sergio Massa said that the project had “made the impossible, possible” by doing the work of two years in eight months, underlining that “it was Argentine companies which carried out this work when they said it could only be done by international firms.” The pipeline is estimated to save the country US$1.7 billion in fuel imports this year and US$4 billion next.
SOURCE: www.batimes.com.ar