CMS BUYS INTEREST IN ARGENTINE GAS LINE

A unit of CMS Energy Corp., Dearborn, Mich., has acquired a 25% interest in Argentina's Transportadora de Gas del Norte (TGN) natural gas pipeline (96449 bytes) . CMS Gas Transmission & Storage Co. (Cmsgts) was the winning bidder in a privatization auction held by Gas del Estado, Argentina's former state owned gas transmission/distribution company. Cmsgts submitted a bid of $141.6 million to acquire the TGN stock formerly held by the Argentine government.

July 31, 1995

2 min read

A unit of CMS Energy Corp., Dearborn, Mich., has acquired a 25% interest in Argentina's Transportadora de Gas del Norte (TGN) natural gas pipeline (96449 bytes).

CMS Gas Transmission & Storage Co. (Cmsgts) was the winning bidder in a privatization auction held by Gas del Estado, Argentina's former state owned gas transmission/distribution company. Cmsgts submitted a bid of $141.6 million to acquire the TGN stock formerly held by the Argentine government.

TGN owns-4,200 km of pipelines that serve North and Central Argentina provinces with a total capacity of almost 1 bcfd. Its system connects gas producing areas in Northeast Argentina and the Neuquen basin with markets in Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and Central Argentina.

TGN holds a license from the Argentine government to operate the two main pipelines that comprise the TGN system for an initial term of 35 years.

It is one of two gas transportation companies formed in December 1992 as a result of the privatization of Gas del Estado. As part of the transferred assets at the time of privatization, TGN received 10 year take or pay gas transportation contracts with five gas distribution companies that combined account for all of TGN's transportation capacity

Since privatization, TGN has doubled its firm service clients to 10 companies. Its current capacity of more than 948 M Mcfd is an increase of about 20% from its first year of business.

Acquiring the stake in TGN dove- tails with efforts by another CMS Energy unit to convert the Centrales Termicas Mendoza power plant at Mendoza, Argentina, to natural gas.

Other projects in which Cmsgts is involved that will complement the TGN acquisition are the proposed 425 mile Atacama gas pipeline to link fields in North Argentina with markets in North Chile and the recent award of an exclusive concession to develop the Santa Lucia gas storage project in Uruguay (OGJ, July 24, p. 18).