LatinNews Daily - 29 August 2023

* Argentina’s economy minister, Sergio Massa, has announced the launch of the tender for the reversion of the northern gas pipeline, which will allow provinces in the north-west of Argentina to receive gas from the Vaca Muerte shale oil and gas fields in Patagonia in the south. Massa, who is also the presidential candidate for the ruling left-of-centre Unión por la Patria (UP) coalition, made the announcement alongside Energy Minister Flavia Royón and Agustín Gerez, the president of Argentina’s state power company Energía Argentina (Enarsa) in Tío Pujio, a town in the central province of Córdoba. According to an economy ministry statement, the project will require an investment of US$710m, a large part of which will be covered by a US$540m contribution from the Latin American development bank (CAF). In a statement, Gerez said the project would ensure Argentina’s “energy sovereignty” by supplying the north of the country with gas produced in Argentina. Royón added that the project would create 15,000 jobs both directly and indirectly.