Neuquén in Talks with Brazilian Companies Over Vaca Muerta Gas Supply

Neuquén Governor Rolando Figueroa received representatives of the Brazilian companies Pré-Sal Petróleo and GásBra at Casa de Gobierno to evaluate a possible long-term supply of Vaca Muerta gas to Brazil's industrial and commercial market. The meeting was also attended by provincial Energy Minister Gustavo Medele, technical teams from the Undersecretariat of Hydrocarbons, and officials from the state-owned company Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén (GyP).

The Brazilian delegation was led by Pré-Sal Petróleo president Luis Fernando Paroli, Finance and Commercialization director Samir Passos Awad, and legal advisor Vinicius Rezende, together with GásBra CEO André Lopes Sant'ana, vice president Luis Buffa, and Operations director Fernando Olaizola. During the meeting, the parties made progress on structuring a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which according to Argen Ports is still being drafted, to carry forward an energy integration agenda that began in 2025.

Minister Medele estimated a horizon of four to five years to close the commercial agreements, define participation mechanisms, and bring in the companies that will handle the construction and operation of the infrastructure. The roadmap first calls for a joint survey with GyP of rock productivity curves and the gas volumes available for multi-year contracts, followed by a second stage analyzing the regulatory and transport conditions needed to move the gas from the Neuquén basin to industrial consumption centers in Brazil.

Infobae noted that the lack of transport infrastructure is the main obstacle to carrying out the exports, at a time when declining gas production in Bolivia has left Brazil with an increasingly scarce supply. Among the projects under consideration is TGN's Manuel Belgrano pipeline, which will link Tratayén with Córdoba and is slated to come online by 2029, as well as a GásBra proposal for a dedicated 1,630-kilometer pipeline between Tratayén and the Brazilian city of Uruguaiana, with an estimated cost of more than USD 1 billion.

While the long-term framework is still being worked out, shipments of Argentine gas to Brazil have already begun on an interruptible basis and in modest volumes, led by TotalEnergies since April 2025 and joined by Tecpetrol, Pluspetrol and Pampa Energía. According to the Gas Export Monitor of the Secretariat of Energy, shipments went from being practically nil in 2025 to 6.93 million cubic meters accumulated in 2026, although the volume remains marginal compared to the potential of between 45 and 50 million cubic meters per day that TGN estimates for the Brazilian market.