TotalEnergies in Bolivia and Incahuasi Project collaborators overcame Andean geographical challenges and built a gas treatment plant in the middle of the Guarani Territory.
Andean foothills, a major challenge
The diverse team´s synergy made it possible to construct amid the Andean Foothills, with pipelines seldom traveling over 40 degree slopes and transporting material through narrow dirt roads surrounded by precipices, facing major logistical difficulties. With the main city, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, laying five hours away, innovative solutions had to be created as to succeed with total security. Geoscientists and perforation teams had to work together to attain the gas reservoir at more than 5600 meters; project managers defy complex construction puzzles and IT experts connect them all.
A contribution to Bolivia´s economy
The Incahuasi Plant was inaugurated on September 16, 2016 with three connected wells - Aquio X1001, ICS- X1, ICS-2 - and a production capacity of 6 million cubic meters of gas per day.
Since then, two additional wells were connected: ICS-3 and ICS-5, the last one on December 2021. Likewise, with the debottlenecking of the Incahuasi Plant in 2019, the production capacity was incremented to 11 million cubic meters of gas per day.
The initial investment was of 1,300 million USD and the total investment on the project was of 1,600 million USD.
The hydrocarbon extracted from these wells is treated by the facilities and sent through 160 kilometers of pipelines to be distributed by Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (the national gas company).
The actual production capacity represents an important contribution to fulfill internal demand and contracts with neighboring Argentina and Brazil.