San Sebastián-Ushuaia Gas Pipeline

San Sebastián-Ushuaia Gas Pipeline, known locally as Gasoducto San Sebastián-Ushuaia or Gasoducto Fueguino, is an operating gas pipeline running between San Sebastián and Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

Location

The pipeline starts in San Sebastián, Tierra del Fuego and runs to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, passing through the towns of Río Grande and Tolhuin.

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Project Details

• Owner: Camuzzi Gas del Sur, S.A.
• Parent company: Camuzzi
• Capacity: Unknown
• Length: 280 km
• Diameter: 8 inches
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 1981
• Financing:

Background

Commissioned in 1981, the 280-kilometer San Sebastián-Ushuaia gas pipeline was designed to bring natural gas from northern Tierra del Fuego to the provincial capital, Ushuaia. Originally owned and operated by the state-run Gas del Estado, the project was privatized in 1992 and sold to its current owner, Camuzzi Gas del Sur, S.A.

Expansion Project Details

• Owner: Camuzzi Gas del Sur, S.A.
• Parent company: Camuzzi
• Capacity: 106 MMcf/d (3 million cubic meters per day)
• Length: 205 km
• Diameter: 12 inches
• Status: Shelved
• Start Year:

Capacity Expansion

Camuzzi Gas del Sur, S.A. has invested 527 million Argentine pesos (A$527 million) in an expansion project that involves adding 205 km of 12-inch tubing to reinforce the existing pipeline. The project, which aims to increase the pipeline's capacity to 3 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, was reportedly near completion in February 2019. However, in an April 2020 interview, Tierra del Fuego's Secretary of Energy Moisés Solorza noted that the expansion project remained unfinished, with some sections of pipeline still to be added near Ushuaia. In a March 2021 speech to Tierra del Fuego's provincial legislature, Governor Gustavo Melella affirmed that the pipeline expansion was among several key projects he planned to revive in 2021. However, as of August 2022, there had been no signs of further progress, and the project was presumed to be shelved.

Proposed link with San Martín Gas Pipeline

In May 2018, Tierra del Fuego's governor announced plans for construction of a new compressor station in San Sebastián parish as part of a larger project that would link the San Sebastián-Ushuaia Gas Pipeline with the 3,756-kilometer San Martín Gas Pipeline running south from Buenos Aires. Together with Camuzzi's capacity expansion plans, the new pipeline interconnection project would bring natural gas service to 16,000 new customers in Tierra del Fuego province. In November 2019, Tierra del Fuego's provincial government announced that it would hold a public tender for the A$860 million, 14-month project. Three companies submitted bids in December 2019, but as of April 2020 there was no further progress on the pipeline interconnection project.

Between June and September 2022, various sources reported that the interconnection project was scheduled for completion by year's end, with production of the required compressors and other equipment already underway at El Talar in Buenos Aires province. However, as of July 2023, despite the two pipelines only being 800 meters apart, the project remained unfinished.