Fénix: our offshore gas development in Tierra del Fuego

With Fénix we seek to continue meeting the country's energy needs, producing gas in the southernmost offshore reserve in the world. 

The project consists of the construction and installation of a production rig that connects 3 natural gas producing wells located 60 km offshore Tierra del Fuego in a 70-meter water depth. 

Production from Fénix is transported through a gas pipeline connected to the Vega Pléyade offshore rig. The gas is then processed and conditioned at the Río Cullen plant before being injected in the San Martín gas pipeline.

At its peak production, Fénix is estimated to contribute up to 10 million cubic meters of gas per day to supply the domestic market, representing approximately 8% of the country's current gas production.

Pioneering offshore production for the past 44 years

Our history in Argentina dates back to 1978 in Tierra del Fuego, with the signing of an offshore exploration contract by the Cuenca Marina Austral 1 (CMA-1) Consortium operated by Total Austral (37.5%) and formed by Wintershall Dea Argentina (37,5%) and Pan American Sur (25%).

Only 9 years later, and after a complex offshore exploration work, we were able to drill more than 45 exploration and delineation wells with a success rate of more than 80%. 

Today, the following offshore fields are in production: Hidra, Kaus, Ara-Cañadón Alfa, Carina, Aries, Vega Pléyade and Fénix. Production is treated at the onshore Río Cullen and Cañadón Alfa plants, north of Tierra del Fuego island. 

Together, these fields supply close to 16 million cubic meters of gas to the Argentine market on a daily basis. This shows our permanent commitment to satisfy Argentina's growing energy demand, guaranteeing the economic and sustainable development of natural resources, respecting high safety and environmental preservation standards and strengthening our long-term commitment to provide better, safer and lasting energy. 

Our offshore experience is supported by our ambitious projects

• Hidra, our first offshore field in Argentina and the southernmost in the world. This project, which dates back to 1989, highlighted Total Austral's ability to manage large, innovative projects and to position as a pioneer and leader in the Argentine energy industry. 
• Long-reach well drilling campaign. In early 1997, we developed an ambitious and challenging drilling campaign aimed at producing offshore reserves through long-reach wells drilled offshore Tierra del Fuego. In 1999, Total Austral completed this 11 horizontal well drilling campaign, also breaking a world record for length drilled with the CN-1 well (11,184 m) and with a depth of 1,690 m. 
• Argentina's first subsea wells: Argo 1 and 2. In 1999, to develop the Argo gas field, located 20 kilometers offshore and 80 meters of water depth, we chose an innovative scheme: we installed two subsea wellheads, Argo 1 and 2, connected by a 12.7 km set of subsea lines to the Hidra Centro rig and remotely operated from the Rio Cullen plant.
• Carina-Aries and Vega Pléyade, our latest large-scale projects. We brought the Carina-Aries and Vega Pléyade offshore fields into production in 2005 and 2016, showing our commitment to further develop the world's southernmost gas reserves. The Carina-Aries and Vega Pléyade rigs are connected to the Río Cullen treatment plant through a network of subsea pipelines 87 and 72 kilometers long, respectively.