• Progress as planned at Fénix, one of Argentina's most important energy projects
• Growing importance of Argentina as an energy exporter
• Wintershall Dea is ready to support the Argentine-German energy dialogue

Celebrating 45 years of successful operations in Argentina, Wintershall Dea proudly participates in the XIV Argentina Oil and Gas Exhibition (AOG) in Buenos Aires. At the conference, which is a key event in Argentina’s E&P industry, the company reaffirms its commitment to the country’s energy sector. Wintershall Dea continues to see a strong future for natural gas in driving both decarbonisation and Argentina’s path to energy self-sufficiency.

Manfred Böckmann, Managing Director of Wintershall Dea in Argentina, emphazises: “Wintershall Dea has been a committed partner to Argentina for 45 years, and has built up its position over the years to become one of the country's leading natural gas producers. Currently, the progress of the Fénix gas project off the coast of Tierra del Fuego is particularly encouraging. Fénix is expected to contribute to Argentina’s long-term energy supply, and at the same time strengthen the country’s central position in our global portfolio.”

COMMITMENT TO ARGENTINA’S ENERGY SUPPLY

As one of the country’s leading natural gas producers, Wintershall Dea has stakes in onshore and offshore fields in Neuquén and Tierra del Fuego.

In Neuquén, Wintershall Dea produces natural gas from the conventional deposits and shale gas deposits Aguada Pichana Este and San Roque together with its partners TotalEnergies (operator), YPF and Pan American Energy. In Aguada Pichana Este, the partnership is pursuing a continuous drilling and completion program to fully utilize available processing and transport capacities.
In the south of the country, the company, together with its partners TotalEnergies and Pan American Energy, is successfully operating in the Cuenca Marina Austral 1 (CMA- 1) concession, which accounts for about 15 percent of Argentina's total natural gas production.

As part of the CMA-1 cluster, Wintershall Dea is developing the Fénix project, currently one of Argentina's most important energy projects. The Fénix project is progressing as planned. An important milestone was reached in early July, when the first concrete blocks that will support the subsea pipeline were installed on the seabed. The laying of the subsea pipeline to connect the future Fénix platform with the existing Vega Pléyade platform is in progress. Once operational, Fénix is expected to produce a peak of 10 million cubic meters of gas per day. The project yet again underpins Wintershall Dea's contribution to Argentina's energy supply and is also expected to significantly increase the company's global gas production.

ARGENTINA'S GROWING IMPORTANCE AS AN ENERGY EXPORTER

With its national and international expertise, Wintershall Dea is supporting Argentina on its way to strengthening its role as an exporter on the South American energy market and also establishing itself as an energy supplier on the world market in the long term.

In this context, Wintershall Dea received approval from the Argentine Energy Secretariat at the end of August to export around 1.5 million cubic meters of gas per day to Chile. 200,000 cubic meters of that volume will be exported from Tierra del Fuego via the NorAndino pipeline in the second half of the year.
"We are actively working to exploit the opportunities available to export gas to the Chilean market. Wintershall Dea has exported gas to Chile for for industrial and domestic consumption for many years and we are very pleased that we can now resume the supply of natural gas to the north of Chile. This is another important building block in our strategy in the country," explains Manfred Böckmann.

PARTNER FOR THE ENERGY TRANSITION IN ARGENTINA

Wintershall Dea is convinced that hydrogen can be an important pillar for the energy transition in Argentina. Since 2022, the company has been part of the H2ar consortium, a cooperation space for companies working to develop a hydrogen economy in Argentina. The consortium's goal is the long-term decarbonization of Argentina's energy supply.
In January 2023, the governments of Argentina and Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen their strategic energy partnership and drive forward the energy transition. As the largest German energy company in Argentina, Wintershall Dea is ready to support this German-Argentinean energy dialogue with its experience from other regions and technologies.