The saying goes that when the alms are big, even the saint is suspicious . And no wonder, if we are talking about a project with an estimated investment of around 30 billion dollars and where the interests at stake are bidding hard for the juicy dividends that the huge projected profits would bring.
This also explains the sudden way in which the dispute between the provinces of Buenos Aires and Río Negro has been resolved over the installation of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant that YPF will build together with Petronas , the Malaysian state oil company.
The decision to move the future LNG plant , initially planned in the Buenos Aires town of Bahía Blanca to the town of Sierra Grande , located in the southeast of the Department of San Antonio, in the province of Río Negro, was based on technical reports requested by the YPF authorities. To do so, they hired the international consulting firm Arthur D. Little . The objective was to give “transparency” to the process to decide where the coveted LNG plant to be built by YPF and Petronas would be located.
According to Infobae : “The intention of the state oil company (YPF) is to avoid any suggestion that this decision will be made for political reasons.” A comment that obscures more than it clarifies, since it seems far removed from technical reasons and is closer to political motivations.
But two weeks before YPF made its decision public, the government of the province of Río Negro argued - in a meeting held at the Petroleum Club of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires - in favor of the installation of the project in the department of San Antonio, more precisely in the northeast of the department . Among the technical arguments that the province of Río Negro used to justify the construction of the LNG plant in that area were the proximity of the 132 Kw Atlantic line and the 500 Kw National Interconnected System ; National Route No. 3 ; the proximity of the “Antoine de Saint-Exupéry” airfield, located in San Antonio Oeste ; and the port of San Antonio Este, which provides services to container ships, in addition to having warehouse and shipping services. An argument that was even published on the official website of the government of Río Negro .
At the meeting, Weretilneck said: "I would like to congratulate Mayor Adrián Casadei for this very important decision for our beloved San Antonio Oeste for fully adhering to the Incentive Regime for Large Investments." Until now, everything seemed to indicate that the northeast region of the department of San Antonio would provide the infrastructure for the operation of the coveted LNG plant.
What is striking is that after these statements by the governor, the YPF management finally confirmed on Wednesday, July 31, through a statement, that the town of Sierra Grande was the chosen location for the installation of the LNG plant .
Although, contrary to what was expressed by Governor Weretilneck, one of the main arguments put forward by YPF is the proximity of Sierra Grande to the port of Punta Colorada , located about 8 kilometers in the southeast of the department of San Antonio . Said port is located 209 kilometers south of the port of San Antonio Este by land . It has infrastructure that was used in the past by Hierro Patagónico de Sierra Grande Sociedad Anónima Minera (HIPASAM) , by Hierro Patagónico Rionegrino Sociedad Anónima (HIPARSA) and by MCC Minera Sierra Grande SA (MCC-MSG) , a mining company of Argentine origin controlled by Chinese capital (CHINA METALLURGICAL GROUP CORPORATION) that operated the mine between 2005 and 2016.
It is striking that the area chosen by the YPF authorities to install the LNG plant is so close to one of the fields of the English magnate Joe Lewis. Even more striking is that this field has an impressive landing strip. Not to mention that the distance between the port of Punta Colorada and the airport of the magnate Joe Lewis is only 22 km, a distance notably shorter than the almost 60 km that separate the port of San Antonio Este from the airfield of San Antonio Oeste by land.
We cannot fail to point out that the characteristics of the landing strip, located at Lewis Field, have the same dimensions as the runway at San Antonio Oeste Airfield . Both are 1,800 meters long by 30 meters wide .
When inquiring about the operation of the runway at the San Antonio Oeste aerodrome, we learned that it is restricted and needs urgent repaving , since currently it can only be used by the occasional light aircraft or helicopter, since its current condition prevents it from being used by larger aircraft .
Therefore, we are left with more doubts than certainties, seeing so many foxes inside the henhouse .
And it is no wonder, Argentines have already gone through countless situations where after the carrot comes the blow .
Meanwhile, the province of Buenos Aires continues to demand the technical reports with which YPF made the decision to change the location of the plant . So far, they have not appeared . That is why the government of Axel Kicillof is now waiting for the company YPF to show the technical reports that support the decision made by its board of directors . For now, only the official statement is available.
As reported by the newspaper Tiempo Argentino : “In his conversation with the governor, the CEO of the company, Horacio Marín, promised to take to La Plata the studies that support that the location of Punta Colorada, in Río Negro, was more viable than Bahía Blanca, and to give explanations of the case with the technical team of the oil company.”
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