It was an inauguration in full sun and with reason to celebrate.
After all, the operation of the Barragán thermal power plant in Ensenada will power
1.5 million homes.
But the speeches from the stage contrasted with each other and, above all, symbolized a
fragmented government.
The mayor of the place, Mario Secco, an ultra K militant, boasted that they will give energy to the City of Buenos Aires
“that wants everything
”.
The Secretary of Energy, Flavia Royón, seemed to ignore the presence of Alberto Fernández:
she only named Sergio Massa.
And the president of YPF, Pablo González, who also did not mention Fernández, referred to the current management of YPF, which achieved production records and strong investments and thus
differentiated it from what happened during the Macri administration.
Alberto Fernández closed the ceremony and perhaps in his eagerness to win sympathy he
invited a utopia
.
“Our generation lived the utopia of democracy forever, and it has been 40 years.
Democracy allowed Argentina to advance.
I propose a new utopia, that of the Argentina of equality”.
Alberto Fernandez
In this context, the most forceful message was that of Marcelo Mindlin, CEO and main shareholder of Pampa who, together with YPF, expanded this thermal plant, which now uses the gases that previously went into the atmosphere and works with twice the capacity and the same amount of energy.
Allows import savings of US$ 350 million.
The investment reached US$ 250 million.
Mindlin was direct:
“This work was possible because the contracts were respected.
All governments have respected them since 2009. Also, because there is a sign, for example Plan Gas V, that we asked for it to be longer for greater predictability and they stretched it to 5 years.
That is the importance of confidence to continue investing”.
The businessman, who bought this thermal plant together with YPF in 2019, also pointed out that his Pampa Energía group went from producing six million cubic meters of gas
to 16 million due to the incentive plan.
Flavia Royon
He added: “There is another reality that is the Vaca Muerta trunk gas pipeline, the first to be built in 40 years. In the last 12 years the country
spent US$75 billion importing energy
that went to other countries.
In the reservoirs we had that energy.
The pipeline is going to change that story,” he said.
Sacde, the construction company controlled by Pampa, is carrying out the work together with Techint.
Mindlin pointed out that it will be ready on the promised date and
downplayed a delay of a few days in the worst case.
In an aside with journalists, Mindlin insisted that “it is crucial that the rules of the game are followed.
Predictability is what allows you to continue investing.
And in the last 14 years with different governments the contracts were signed and respected”.
In this context, the investment in a fourth wind farm and the first in Bahía Blanca stood out.
However, the businessman stressed that the approval of the hydrocarbons law, which is on the agenda of extraordinary sessions of Congress, will be "essential" for investments of 30 or 40 years to be carried out, in obvious reference to the project of a liquefied natural gas plant that could be built in modules that require about US$800 million each.
"If the law is not approved, it is very difficult, because it is a new activity."
Mindlin assured that
it has no interest in the assets of the Italian Enel, the owner of Edesur that put them up for sale.
And when asked about the impact of volatility on the exchange rate and political noise, he blurted out: “The entire energy system works with the official dollar.
The official accompanies inflation and the volatility of free exchange rates does not impact too much "on the development of the activity."
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