What was announced in 2022 is about to come to fruition. One of the most important gas exploitations in Argentina by the business consortium formed by Total Austral (37.5%), Harbour Energy (37.5%) and Pan American Sur (25%).
This is the Fénix field , which is expected to provide 10 million cubic meters of gas for at least 15 years starting in early 2025. This is equivalent to increasing the country's total gas production by 8%. In addition, it will also provide some 70,000 barrels of oil per day.
During the first phase of development, three wells were drilled from an unmanned wellhead platform, installed 60 kilometers from the coast and at a depth of 70 meters. Production will be evacuated through a 24" subsea multiphase line to the existing Vega Pléyade platform 35 kilometers away.
According to the company's forecasts, the expansion of energy in Argentina through hydrocarbons, such production will allow the substitution of imports of between 10 and 15 LNG ships during the winter months, although as of this year Vaca Muerta consolidated this goal by reversing the direction of gas towards the Argentine North.
The wells, which are approximately 70 m deep, are connected horizontally, reaching a final depth of almost 2,500 metres. Vertically, the company drilled a hole of almost 1,100 metres. With Fénix, the French multi-energy company will operate 33% of all the gas consumed in the country.
The flagrant violation of Law No. 26,659
Until 2023, the consortium was made up of Total, Wintershall DEA and Pan American Energy . But in 2024, Wintershall DEA withdrew from the oil sector and sold its global share package to Harbour Energy , the largest private British company in the oil sector, which until 2021 operated the Sea Lion field in association with Rockhopper Exploration PLC , and with an illegal license from the British colony that usurps the Malvina Islands from Argentina.
For this reason, the sale of shares by Wintershall DEA to Harbour Energy and its subsequent operation in Argentina, both in Vaca Muerta and Tierra del Fuego, should not have been authorized, since it violates Law No. 26,659 or the "Pino Solanas Law" that sanctions those companies that carry out oil explorations in areas of the Argentine continental shelf without permission from the national government, and especially affecting Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands.
This situation was perfectly known by the government of Alberto Fernández , the government of Tierra del Fuego led by Gustavo Melella , who in 2023 and at the beginning of 2024 expressed himself with reason against it, has special knowledge, and the current national government of Javier Milei knows it.
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