Overview
- Compañía Mega — the YPF/Petrobras/Dow joint venture — inaugurated a new fractionation train at its Bahía Blanca complex on Friday, delivering the first milestone of a US$650 million expansion program.
- The new train raises near-term NGL processing by about 20 percent, moving capacity from roughly 4,800 to about 5,500–5,600 tonnes per day, with company estimates that later phases could lift capacity up to 50 percent.
- Mega has applied for US$360 million under the RIGI incentive to fund a second-stage build that would add about 500,000 tonnes per year of NGLs, with roughly 80 percent of that incremental output slated for export.
- The fractionator separates ethane, propane, butane and natural gasoline so ethane can feed local petrochemicals and propane/butane can supply domestic LPG markets and export buyers; the turnkey expansion was executed by AESA.
- Mega processes about 40 percent of Neuquén gas and uses a roughly 600 km poliduct to move feedstock to Bahía Blanca, a role that officials say will strengthen the city's petrochemical hub, create jobs and raise export revenues if RIGI approval and follow‑on works proceed.