Fénix Gas Pipeline

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Fénix Gas Pipeline is an operating gas pipeline offshore from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

Location

The pipeline runs from the Fénix offshore platform in the Fénix gas field to the TotalEnergies-operated Véga Pleyade platform.

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Project Details

• Operator: Total Austral
• Parent company: TotalEnergies (37.5%), Harbour Energy plc (37.5%), Pan American Energy (25%)
• Capacity: 3.65 bcm/y (10 million m³ per day)
• Length: 35 kilometers
• Diameter: 60 centimeters (24 inches)
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 2024
• Cost: 700 million USD
• Associated infrastructure:
  • Fénix gas field
  • Vega Pléyade gas pipeline

Background

The Fénix gas pipeline was originally developed by Total, Wintershall Energía and Pan American Energy, the same consortium that had been operating the Vega Pléyade gas pipeline off Patagonia's Atlantic coast since 2016. Both the Fénix and Vega Pléyade projects were designed to develop the natural gas and condensate fields of the Cuenca Marina Austral 1 (CMA-1) concession, 20 kilometers east of Bahía San Sebastián in the Argentine Sea off the coast of Tierra del Fuego. The consortium was granted rights to develop gas from Fénix and the surrounding CMA-1 concession through April 2041.

With an estimated cost of 700 million USD, the Fénix project was hailed as Argentina's largest investment dedicated to the production of conventional gas.

Final investment decision and start of construction

In a September 2022 press release, TotalEnergies announced that the consortium had made a final investment decision on the Fénix project, and expected to begin production and transport of gas by early 2025. The company described the Fénix project as comprising a new wellhead platform linked to Total's existing Vega Pléyade platform by a 35-kilometer, 10-million-cubic-meter-per-day pipeline. At Vega Pleyade, gas from the Fénix pipeline was to be fed into the existing Vega Pléyade Gas Pipeline for transport to the Rio Cullen and Cañadón Alfa onshore gas processing facilities in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, where it would ultimately be injected into the San Martín Gas Pipeline and transported 3000 km north to customers in Buenos Aires and other high-demand Argentine markets.

In June 2023, Total Austral confirmed that it had begun laying pipe for the Fénix pipeline.

Commercial operation begins

In September 2024, Total announced that gas production had begun at the Fénix offshore field, implying that the Fénix pipeline was operational.

Change in ownership

In September 2024, Wintershall announced that it had sold its stake in the project to Harbour Energy plc. Following the sale, TotalEnergies and Harbour Energy each held a 37.5% share in the Fénix project, with Pan American Energy controlling the remaining 25%.