Summary
- Turkish automatic-pipeline welding specialists are central to Argentina’s Vaca Muerta Sur (VMOS) build.
- Team set a Latin America record: 175 welds/day; typical average ~140 vs 60–70 on a prior project.
- Work includes training Argentine welders for future automated welding tasks.
Argentina’s 437 km Vaca Muerta Oil Sur (VMOS) pipeline, linking the shale field to the Atlantic coast of Río Negro, is billed as a major export enabler with projections up to $15 billion annually once fully online in December 2026. A small group of Turkish welders, specialists in automatic pipeline welding machines—has become a key factor in keeping the schedule moving.
These welders previously worked on the President Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline and the Northern Gas Pipeline Reversion, then joined VMOS under the Techint–Sacde consortium. Their edge is repeatable speed with tight parameter control. On VMOS they reached a record 175 welds in a single day, sustaining around 140/day, roughly double the output reported on the earlier gas pipeline. That pace matters only if quality holds, and the consortium credits logistics, team cohesion, and deep familiarity with the automated process.
Beyond production, the crew (led on-site by supervisor İskender Uçmaz by BTC Pipelines) is transferring know-how by training local welders on similar equipment. The team’s rotation is demanding—six days on, one off—yet integration on mixed crews appears smooth. For Argentina’s build-out, this is specialist labor filling a narrow skills gap while helping raise local capability for the next wave of energy projects.
Source:
Enes Berna Kilic
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