Within hours of Agenda Malvinas ' publication regarding the Tierra del Fuego government's decision to continue with the industrialization projects for natural gas with a Chinese state-owned company and to open a partnership with the Russian company Gazprom to exploit oil fields in the center and north of Tierra del Fuego Island , Gustavo Melella's administration confirmed and made official the first part of the news report .

It is nothing other than the recovery of the royalty gas industrialization project initiated by former Governor Fabiana Ríos in 2008, through the award of the contract to Shaanxi Chemical Industry Group, a state-owned company with Chinese capital.

Regarding this, the current government of Tierra del Fuego claimed to have successfully "resolved a legal dispute" that the company Tierra del Fuego Energía y Química (TDFEyQ) "had initiated against the provincial government," for a total of $30 million, after the administration of former governor Rosana Bertone canceled the agreements and, consequently, the project by decree. The project also included the construction of a multipurpose port for the export of urea and methanol that the petrochemical plant to be built would produce.

In this way, one of the central issues that was holding us back from a financial perspective has been resolved: the controversy over the US$30 million granted by the Chinese company to the Provincial State ; the Melella administration seems to open two doors simultaneously: the possibility of Industrialize royalty gas and define it in the hands of the Mirgor business group; for the construction of a port in Estancia Violetas, north of the city of Río Grande. This port project was announced in December 2022 and has not generated any employment or soil movement to date.

The fact is that in 2010, TDFEyQ had advanced the province $30 million as a guarantee of sustainability and genuine interest in gas industrialization; this was thwarted by a series of irregularities: a direct award questioned even by the vice-governor of Ríos, Carlos Basanetti; a lack of clarity regarding the negotiated amounts regarding the value of the BTU that the state of Tierra del Fuego would contribute to the project; and a series of sloppiness and poor logistical procedures on the part of the Chinese company.

More than 15 years later, the project is returning to the political and economic scene of the Austral Province in two stages: " The first includes the installation and assembly of two turbine generators, followed by the commissioning of the thermoelectric plant, with an investment of approximately $100 million. The second will be the construction of the plant, with an investment of approximately $730 million," reported El Diario del Fin de Mundo yesterday.

A resolution "without causing harm to the province," said Melella

"We took a very important step for the energy and industrial future of our province," Governor Gustavo Melella posted on his social media accounts on Tuesday, June 3.

“After many years, We were able to resolve a legal dispute that the Tierra del Fuego Energía y Química company had initiated against the provincial government. This lawsuit, which put millions of dollars belonging to all the people of Tierra del Fuego at risk, was resolved without causing any economic harm to the province.

This allows us to resume a key project that had been cut short by political pettiness: the industrialization of Tierra del Fuego gas.

Thanks to this agreement, the company will once again invest in the construction of a urea plant in the northern part of the island, with a total investment exceeding $800 million and to be carried out in two stages.

This means:

✅ New sources of employment for our people

✅ Greater added value to our natural resources

✅ Import substitution at the national level

✅ More development for Río Grande and all of Tierra del Fuego

Since the beginning of our administration, we have made a commitment to expand and diversify our production mix, and this is a very concrete step in that direction. Because we know that the province's development requires firm decisions, planning, and dialogue. And that's what we're doing ," the Tierra del Fuego governor stated.