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spk05: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for... Can you hear me? Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for waiting. I'm Margarita Chun from IAR, and we would like to welcome everyone to Company Argea's third quarter 2022 results video conference. We inform you that this event is being recorded. All participants will be in listen-only mode during the presentation. After the company's remarks, there will be a Q&A session Questions can only be submitted in writing through Zoom. Should any participant need assistance, please send us a chat message. Before proceeding, please read the disclaimer that is located on the second page of our presentation. Let me mention that forward-looking statements are based on Pump Energy's management beliefs and assumptions and information currently available to the company. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions because they are related to future events that may or may not occur. Investors should understand that general economic conditions and industry conditions and other operating factors could also affect the future results of Pampa Energía and could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Now I'll turn the video conference over to Lira Wang, the Investor Relations and Sustainability Officer of Pampa Energía. Please go ahead.
spk03: Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Do you hear me? Okay. Sorry. Technical problem. Anyway.
spk04: Thank you, Maggie. Hello, everyone. And thank you for joining our conference call. I will make it short and sweet, so we have plenty of time for Q&A with our CEO, Gustavo Mariani, who's here, and our CFO, Nicolás Minning, who is here as well. Let's start with the quarter's figures. It's been another solid quarter for our businesses, though gas made it to the headlines again, as expected. Revenues increased 11% year-on-year and 7% quarter-on-quarter to $621 million, mainly driven by seasonal gas sales, pet chem, commodity prices, electricity spot prices, and Energia Plus. However, the end of Loma and Piquirenda PPAs last year mainly offset these increases, as well as Loma's gas turbine number 5 outage and lacked regulated tariffs. 87% of our sales were dollar-linked. The remaining are electricity spots and regulated utilities. Those are in pesos. The adjusted VDA amounted to $246 million, 5% less year-on-year, but similar quarter-on-quarter, basically explained by the same reasons detailed before, plus higher payroll in U.S. dollar terms. As you can see on the right below, the business share flipped, and now Oil & Gas leads the consolidated adjusted VDA fence to our gas business, which took almost half of our EVDA. CAPEX in Q3 was 87%, higher year-on-year, and 27% up quarter-on-quarter, mainly due to the fast pace at our power expansion project, PP3, and to a lesser extent, the finishing touches in Barragán. EMB remained similar to last year, but it's 27% lower than Q2 as drilling and completion activity slows down during the winter peak. Moving on to power generation. As seen on slide four, we posted an EBITDA of $89 million in Q3, down 29% year-on-year and 10% quarter-on-quarter. mainly due to the maturity of these PPAs that we talk about and odages and LOMA that we mentioned before, plus higher pesos expenses offset by better spot energy. This is thanks to the price increases back in February and June and increased thermal B2B sales known as Energia Plus. Q3 dispatch was 17% down year on year, mainly due to limited gas procured by CAMESA for power generation, affecting mostly Genelba-Marragan, which trigger higher dispatch firing liquid fuels. This quarter, we also experienced certain outages and program overhauls, offset by higher water input. the power generation business model relies on take or pay capacity payment. So availability is what matters the most. In Q3, we reached an outstanding rate of 96%, just a little bit above the 95% recorded last year. It will be higher if it wasn't for LOMA number five outage. So again, Pampa's availability was way above the system average that it recorded 78%. Regarding our expansion at Ensenada Barragán, The closing to CCGD is advancing as we are entering the last stages towards the COD. We successfully performed the steam blow and carry out our facilities reinstatement works to deliver the first steam to the turbine. We also keep working on commissioning the water treatment plant and the cooling tower. Around 200 people are working daily on this project to achieve the COD forecast by the end of this year. So moving to PP number three, wind farm expansion. The project is now 72% advanced. We completed the civil works and the wind turbine bases. We also received all the wind turbine components at the port of Bahia Blanca. As of today, we have nine wind turbines ready to be assembled. Vestas, who is our supplier, is already assembling the first section of the towers and the nacelles. The estimated COD is split in two stages, the first 54 megawatts by February 2023 and the remaining 27 megawatts by March 2023. Moving on to EMP, between May and August, we delivered close to 11 million cubic meters per day, as stipulated in Plancast. Still, because of better weather and hence lower demand, we reduced to almost 10 million cubic meters per day in September. However, our gas production in Q3 outperformed by growing 20% year on year and 6% quarter on quarter. averaging 10.7 million kilometers per day and outpacing nationwide growth that only increased by 4%. 76% of the quarter's production came from only one block, that's El Mangrucho, and almost all it's Thai gas. This month, we are adding 3.3 million kilometers per day of evacuation and treatment capacity at El Mangrucho, reaching 14 million kilometers per day of capacity, more than doubling last year's. Rio Neuquén and Sierra Chata also contributed to the growing output, but at a smaller pace. Though Thai gas is our primary production source, we are drilling shale gas wells to increase our share. We drilled four shale gas wells at Sierra Chata and also drilled and completed two tight gas wells. Last Friday, we also received news regarding the tender tapping the new pipeline, the extension of planned gas until 2028, and exports can be done on a take-or-pay basis during winter season. but following certain restrictions. So all are good signs towards bringing more stability to the gas market, but we are still waiting for more details. Briefly commenting on the EMP business figures as seen on slide eight, we posted an adjusted VDA of $117 million in Q3, the highest quarter since 2018. This figure is 13% up year on year and 15% up quarter on quarter. Explained by the gas performance venture before and the higher realized oil prices upset by increased costs related to the growing activity, exports and payroll expenses. Our total production averaged more than 68,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, of which 92% is gas. Our lifting costs grew by 45% year-on-year and 16% quarter-on-quarter, explained by the planned gas increase commitments. However, the lifting costs only increased 22% year-on-year and 8% quarter-on-quarter, recording $6.6 per BOE, evidencing the efficiency of our operations. Zooming in, crude oil represented 20% of the segment's revenue in the quarter. The volume sold was similar year on year, but 20% up quarter on quarter, almost 6,000 barrels per day of nearly own production. During the quarter, local sales increased offset by reduced exports. Realized price was more than $70 per barrel, primarily due to the brands and the gradual rise in the domestic price. Back to gas, our average gas price of the quarter was $4.8 per million BTU, 9% up year on year and quarter on quarter, driven by seasonality and export prices. This price is also the highest since 2018. Regarding the sales breakdown, Q3 is in peak season, which is a skew to retail because they hold priority on their plant gas. As a result, we slightly reduce B2B share and gain exposure to exports despite selling in spot markets. Export share will take off during Q4 as we began exporting 1.5 million kilometers per day under take-or-pay basis since October until May of next year to Chile. Okay, briefly about petrochemicals. It delivered another outstanding EVTA of $19 million in Q3, much higher than the last year's $7 million. This is primarily contributed by better prices of reforming, plus the higher dispatch of octane bases in the local market, partially upset by higher raw material costs. However, quarter on quarter, the ABTA remains similar because of the higher sales volume was upset by a reduced styrene margin. Sales volume was 7% down year-on-year, mainly due to lower exports and tire industry conflicts, upset by low local demand growth for Star Enix and Octane bases. In Q3, one-third of the total sales volume was exported. Moving on to the cash flow, we recorded a free cash flow of $11 million, driven by the outstanding operating performance from all free businesses, helped by leaner working capital, offset by debt service. The increased debt considers the pesos raised in the local market and net from the 2023 notes exchange we finalized last August. In addition, in Q3, we collected 20 out of the 40 million pesos from the Eleanor sale finance milestone. So we concluded that sale and acquire the full ownership of Mario Cerrito wind farm for over $20 million. So in summary, we generated $119 million of net cashflow in the quarter achieving 685 million of cash in September. Moving on to the slide 12, this slide shows the consolidated figures of our financial position, including our affiliates at ownership, but let's just focus on the restricted group that reflects the bond perimeter. The net debt reflects the successful exchange of 2023 notes by issuing $293 million of amortizing 2026 notes, and paying down $122 million in cash. Hence, we lowered our international debt. In addition, taking advantage of the domestic liquidity and from the higher seasonal working capital from CAMUSA, we also issued a local bond for 22 billion pesos, due in 18 months and took $7 billion net peso bearing loans and $7 million of pre-import credit facility. So we posted a gross debt of $1.6 billion, similar to last quarter. 85% of that is dollar denominated, bearing an average interest rate of 8.3%. Net debt and leverage ratio remains similar at $927 million and 1.3 times. The average life decreases slightly to 3.7 years. As you can see, Pampa does not face relevant debt maturities until 2027. Well, so this concludes our presentation. Now I will turn the word to Maggie who will poll for questions. Thank you.
spk05: Thank you, Lidia. The floor is now open for questions. If you have a question, please send us a Zoom chat. We will read and answer them in the order received. Also, please make sure your name and company are correctly displayed so that we can introduce you to the audience. Should any participant need assistance, send us a chat message or raise your hand. Please hold while we pull for questions. Our first question comes from Maria Mochano from the company ADCA. Her first question is regarding the PPAs. If the company has a plan to replace the mature PPAs. Another question is regarding the lack of gas for power generation, if it's still in place, the lack of gas for generation, and the delays on CAMESA payments.
spk01: Hi, good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining. Thank you, Maria, for your question. Regarding the replacement of the PPAs, we've been working the last two years on the closing of the combined cycle of Central Térmica Ensenada de Barragán. Together with YPF, that is an expansion of 280 megawatts that will begin hopefully the PPA by year end. that will be an addition of an important PPA for Pampa. And also we've been working this year on the expansion of PP3, as Lida has mentioned. So those are another 80 megawatts of wind farm that will be online. I think even sooner than what Lida has just announced, I think we may have a portion of it, a small portion of it, even before year end and the rest within the first quarter of next year. The other issue was regarding lack of gas, right? You know, this year has been peculiar in terms of pricing liquids for the first time in history, liquids meaning diesel oil was cheaper than imported LNG. So CAMESA tried to maximize the use of liquid fuels, diesel oil and fuel oil, vis-a-vis the use of imported natural gas. obviously that was during the winter season it won't happen now in spring and during the summer and next autumn but on the winter of 2023 we are envisioning a similar situation at least that is what the futures of LNG are telling us more or less in the same range that they were this winter even a little bit more expensive. So we think that next year, CAMESA will also try to maximize the use of liquid fuels vis-a-vis imported energy. And the last question was regarding the delays of CAMESA. CAMESA, I don't have the exact number. Probably you can put it on the screen. Okay, so the last three months, CAMESA has improved its payment regularity. And currently, the last payment was with 35 days of delay vis-a-vis the contractual obligation. So it has been improving. We hope that the worst is over. The worst is during the winter that CAMESA has to spend a lot of funds in importing fuels. So I think that the spring and summer months are easier in terms of funding for CAMESA. So we should collect with less delays. At least that is what we are expecting.
spk05: Thank you, Wolf. Our second question comes from Frank McCann of Bank of America. He has two questions. The first one is, what are your current expectations for gas production over the next three years?
spk01: Hi, Frank. As Leah mentioned, we have been investing in order to increase our production capacity, especially at El Mangrucho area. And we are just finishing a new gas plant treatment. which will allow us to increase production going forward. But how much, it will depend on the auction that we are expecting anytime for the fulfillment of the new pipeline that is expected to be available online next winter. So once that bidding process is over, we will have more clarity as to our gas production moving forward in the next two years.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. The second question, Frank, is about, could you please remind us of the timing for the ending and startup of PPAs through 2023 and 2024? It was a kind of reply, answer before. No, no, but that's... Thank you, thank you.
spk01: Okay, now what? No, I think we don't have any maturities of PPA in the next couple of years. So I think the next PPA maturing is in 2026. Is that correct? July. July 2026. So for the next three and a half years, we don't have any maturity of PPAs.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. Our next question comes from Alejandro de Michelis from Now Securities. He has two questions, but the first one is very similar to Fran's question. It was about the visibility of Pampas gas production until 2028. We need more information regarding the tender first. And the second question was about an M&A opportunity. if we have interest in increasing our stake in Rio Neuquén block. Currently, we have one third of the block. How is the situation with Petrobras?
spk01: Yes, Petrobras Brasil has announced that it has launched an M&A process to divest. It's one-third stake in Rio Nukem. There we have partners with YPF. It's one-third each. So... We will analyze the opportunity. We are interested in participating in the process. It will be a competitive process. So we will see how it goes. We do have the same way YPF. We have a right of refusal on this area. So depending on the On the price and the end of the process, we might decide to exercise our right or not. But that's something to be seen.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. Our next question comes from Bruno Montanari from Morgan Stanley. He has three questions regarding EMP business. The first one is, can you provide an update of the Nestor-Kishner pipeline project? Does the industry expect it will be ready on time for next winter?
spk02: Hi, Bruno.
spk01: Well, I don't want to speak for the industry. I don't know what the industry is expecting. We are optimistic that it will be ready. At least, as you know, aside from Pampa, but our construct, we are involving in one of the construction companies that it's involving in the construction and they're working at full speed. Pipes have already began to arrive to the construction sites. So the work is in progress. And so far, there are a lot of hurdles But so far, we haven't identified yet anything that makes us pessimistic about not being able to reach the conclusion of the pipeline for the end of June of next year. And I would assume that the industry thinks the same way, but honestly, I don't know. We are optimistic that the pipe will be ready and it's actually quite important, not only for the industry, but for the country as well, because given the price differential and the fact that the local gas, even though it's priced in dollars, is paid with pesos while imported LNG is paid with dollars. In terms of the amount of dollars that won't be spent if the pipe is ready, it's around between $2.5 to $3 billion dollars that won't be needed if the pipe is ready by the end of June. So it's a very important contribution to the central bank reserves.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. The second question from Bruno is regarding the expected capex, the investment for EMP business for the next two years. And how much of the capex is conditioned to the pipeline being ready? And what is the corresponding production amount that can be linked to the incremental capex? Before answering, keep in mind that we don't need guidance. This is our latest figure.
spk01: The capex for 2023 will be conditioned by the the pipeline being ready next year. But I think more important to that will be conditioned to our success in the bidding process to fulfill that pipeline. So still cannot give you, we think it's going to be in the area of half a billion dollar. the capex for the for this segment part of that is in order to keep the production and a portion of that majority of that is to increase production if we are successful in the plan in the upcoming plant gas bidding process for the fulfillment of the Nestor Kirchner gas pipeline and 2024, again, it's related to the same thing, so cannot give you any figures.
spk05: Thank you, August. The last question from Bruno is regarding lifting costs. Lifting costs have increased on the back of inflation. What can you expect for costs going forward? Should we assume they stay at current level, or is there anything the company can do to try to manage costs?
spk01: I think one of the reasons that the lifting costs have been going up is the fact that we have been recently investing in new capacity that is not fully utilized yet. So we hope if we are successful, as I said before, in the bidding process and we are able to increase our production of natural gas and we have a better utilization rate of the new plant that has been recently been online, I hope that lifting costs will come down slightly.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. Our next question comes from Constantinos Papalias from Puente. He has three questions. One of them is already answered because it was the outlook of the new pipeline. And the second question is about what is the position or strategy that Pampa is looking for for the upcoming plan gas rounds?
spk02: Well, I think I already answered that.
spk01: We are eager to increase our participation in our market share in the gas industry. So we are looking forward to that, but it's a competitive process, so it's not We cannot discuss the strategy as I think it won't be in our best interest. But I think it's what we have been saying several times, we are looking to increase our market share.
spk05: Thank you, Luz. Costa's second question is about the upcoming winter outlook. Could you give us a color of how do you see the upcoming winter, considering that we won't have the regasification ship at Bahia Blanca, and still we don't know if we will have on time the new pipeline?
spk02: Thank you.
spk01: I think it's very important that the pipeline is there for next winter. Otherwise, as you correctly pointed, if we don't have the ship, that means in average around 13 million cubic meters of natural gas less coming from Bahia Blanca. And that needs to be replaced by the 11 million that will be contributed with the Nestor-Kichner pipe on the first stage. Remember that once the pipe is complete, the second stage is to add compression capacity to that pipeline, and the capacity of the pipe goes from 11 to 22. It doubles. But for next year, the balance will be 13 million less Roozbeh Gharakhloo, Injected by the LNG ship that one won't be there anymore replaced by 11 from the new pipeline being ready. Roozbeh Gharakhloo, Hopefully, by the end of June of next year.
spk05: Diana Popescu, Thank you, our next question comes from a little ago from tpc. She has two questions, but the first one is about the lifting cost that is already answered. And the second question is, when are you planning to shift gas production from the tight gas fields to the shale fields?
spk01: We are currently shifting from tide to shale. Actually, the campaign that we have already started, but it will intensify as we approach next winter. It's a combination of both tide gas wells and shale gas wells. It's not a different field. It's a different horizon. Within El Mangrucho area and the same in Sierra Chata, we have both horizons, both horizons, the mulichingo and the vaca muerta, and that it's tight gas and shale gas in the case of vaca muerta. So although we will still be drilling a few wells, a few type gas wells next year, most of them we will be drilling between 30 to 35 wells next year. Most of them will be, and I'm speaking about the areas that we operate, most of them will be to shale gas, to Vaca Muerta, to shale gas horizons.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. Our next question comes from Rodrigo Nistor from Latin Securities, former AIR partners. He has three questions, but the first one regarding the gas pipeline and the upcoming winter outlook is already answered. His second question is about the oil business. Are you actively looking to increase focus on crude oil production? If so, what is the current status of your expansion plans?
spk01: On the oil side, And in the area that we operate, we don't fully own the area. We have a partner. So we are discussing with our partner and trying to get to an agreement in order to begin the development of the area. First, we need to do some pilot project, some exploration, and then the development. eager to start as soon as possible, but we are discussing with our partner as we need to get an agreement before we hope, we are optimistic that we will be able to do so at some point next year.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. And the last question from Rodrigo is about the power generation business. He has two questions regarding power generation. The first one is, do you expect any tariff increase for the legacy units?
spk01: We are discussing that with the authorities. Nothing has been published or but they understand that we are running behind inflation by a big, and that the sector needs an adjustment in order to cope with the inflation that has been very high this year. So we hope something will be announced before year-end, but we don't have any security yet or confirmation yet.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. And also he wanted to know regarding the hydro concession maturing in 2024, any color on that of what the provincial and national governments plans to do?
spk01: No, we don't have any visibility as to what the government is doing. we'll be doing next year. They are studying the situation, but in our case, our hydroconcessions do not mature next year. Ours mature in 2024, and in the case of Pichipi-Gunerfu, in 2029. So we still have time. It's not something that will impact our business next year.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. Rodrigo had another question regarding the Camisa delays on the payment, but it was already answered. So we are moving on to the question of Ezequiel Fernandez. He has four questions. The first one is already answered. It was about the EMP business capex and the plans of wells to be drilled next year. And the second question is about the LNG project announced by TGS. It is being evaluated by TGS. If we understood this is right, it could involve a 2 million ton per year modular project we estimate $1 billion of CapEx. Would you consider taking the decision about moving forward with this before the elections? If so, would you expect a significant equity investment from Pampai to TGS?
spk01: yes we hope to be able to to take a decision on the project before next year election we we do see this project as strategic for for us for for the sector and and for the country as well argentina has a big seasonality in its consumption of natural gas. So if you want to supply locally all the natural gas that is consumed during the winter, we need to, in order to be efficient, to be able to export during the summertime the gas that is not consumed in winter. in Argentina. So an LNG project is crucial for that. And it goes beyond any political results on the elections. So we are working as fast as we can in order to be able to to take decisions and start the project. It's not easy. It's a very complex project. So it takes time even more than we thought initially. But we hope to be able in the first semester of next year or during the first quarter of next year to be able to take a decision. Regarding the project, pampa's involvement in the process in the project still to be discussed it's going to be a showing venture so it will certainly be a capital contribution from pampa into the project but amounts are still not not defined
spk05: Thank you, Gus. The third question from Ezequiel Fernandez from Balance is about an M&A opportunity. Which subsectors of the Argentina energy chain do you perceive as more attractive for acquisitions right now?
spk00: So with the sale of Refinor, we just finished divesting in our non-core assets. many of them acquired when we bought Petrobras Argentine Asset, to focus our resources in our main businesses, such as power generation and EMP. So now we are analyzing some M&A opportunities in shale oil and renewables, but nothing in concrete yet.
spk05: Thank you, Nico. There is another question from Ezequiel. This is the last one. Would you expect to start paying corporate taxes next year or do you still have tax offsets to use?
spk01: I think in 2023, we still have... Well, the tax of... Tax carry force? Sure. Okay. No, so we are not expecting to pay income tax next year.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. Costas Papalias from Puente added one more question. It is about the the overdue receivable of plant gas. Could you give us an estimate on the overdue receivable from the Secretariat of Energy regarding the natural gas sales under the plant gas regime?
spk01: Hi. we were just discussing here if somebody remember the exact number. The reason why we don't remember is because it's not as important because the subsidy goes only on the portion that we sell to distribution companies. I think it's coming, we are collecting with a little bit more delay that what we are collecting from CAMESA, but nothing significant. It's similar to what we are collecting from CAMESA, and it has been improving recently.
spk05: Thank you, August. The next question comes from Anne Milne from Bank of America, but it was already answered. She wanted to know the estimation of PAMPA's participation in the plant gas. And the following question comes from Daniel Guardiola from BTG Pactual. He has four questions, but some of them were answered. The first one was regarding PPA maturities. And the second question was the potential EBITDA that we estimate for next year for the power generation business, considering the TPA recently mature.
spk01: Maggie will remind me that we don't give projections, so I cannot give you a number, but I think The adjusted EVDA for next year in the generation segment will go up because we don't have any PPS maturities, as I mentioned, and the following maturity will be in July 2026. And we do have the addition of the wind farm and Central Thermica Barragán. So we are expecting the EVDA of the segment to recover next year.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. Well, the third question of Daniel Guardiola was already answered regarding the gas pipeline status. And the last question from Daniel Guardiola was about the maximum transportation capacity to export gas to Chile and at what price we are exporting this gas.
spk01: Hi. So from the Neuquina Basin, we have two pipes, the Gas Andes with a nominal capacity of 10.5 million cubic meters of natural gas. But because of some restrictions on the Argentine side and also some restrictions on the Chile side, the average number is between eight and a half to nine million cubic meters of natural gas per day through gas and this. We are, through that pipe, we are currently, Pampa is exporting 1.5 million cubic meters of natural gas per day at an average price slightly above $8. If I'm correct, $8.20 or $8. Slightly above $8. Okay. That is gross price net of export taxes slightly below eight. And the other pipeline is Gas Pacifico, that it has a similar capacity, but there is very small demand on the Chilean side where that pipeline is arriving. So we are currently, Argentina is currently exporting about half a million cubic meters of natural gas through Gas Pacifico.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. And we have another question from Costas from Puente. It is about power dispatch during winter 2023. What are your expectations for power dispatch during winter 2023, taking into account natural gas availability, the lack of classification ship in Bahia Blanca, and the expected expansion in gas pipeline? What if the new gas pipeline COD is delayed by a few weeks?
spk02: Hi.
spk01: Well, I think it has been answered before, but if the pipeline is delayed, it's going to be a very tough winter as Camesa will have to stretch its consumption of liquid fuels. But we envision, in terms of gas availability, we envision a winter similar to 2022 winter. Because we expect that's our most likely scenario, that by the end of June, the new pipeline will be available, replacing what in 2022 has been imported through the LNG ship in Bahia Blanca.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. Our next question comes from Florencia Machorga from Midlife. She has two questions. The first one is, any update regarding easing FX restrictions for oil and gas companies? There was a regulation issue.
spk00: So there is a 277 decree that allows oil and gas companies that are increasing exports to have access to the official effects for some uses such as the repayments, imports, dividends. But this has not been completely implemented yet. But in case it's regulated, it will give Pampa the chance to access the the official effects for almost $40 million per quarter. From this year, right? No, $40 million per quarter.
spk05: Thank you, Nico. The second question from Florencia is about M&A. After the sale of, it was kind of an answer, but after the sale of Refinoir, any other asset that you are planning to divest or any M&A?
spk00: So as I said before, there are not any relevant divestments on the pipeline now. After almost five years and a lot of sales, including the downstream business, the Entre Lomas assets that we sold to ISTA, we're still taking all the value. the other 25% of TGS and some others. With the sale of Refinor, we managed to divest in all of the assets that we acquired from Petrobras that were not core for Pampa. And regarding buys, as I said before, we are analyzing some opportunities, mainly in renewables and in shale oil, but there is nothing concrete yet
spk05: Thank you, Nico. The next question, the following questions, some of them were already answered. It was Daniel Guardiola regarding the power generation business, CAPEX deployment and funding requirements. Keep in mind that the power generation business is self-funding with the operating performance of its EBITDA generation. And in the case of Juan Jose Munoz from BTG Pactual, he wanted to know more about the planned gas extension and more color about the aggregate gas price for the next year. Already answered. We are still waiting for the tender. And the next question comes from Martin Honorato. Do you have problems with importing products that delay some projects?
spk01: I don't want to say... So far, we didn't have any serious problems. We have been able to import all that we needed. But this is a... This is a problem every day. It's... the situation gets in a way more complex. For example, it's key for our intention to grow production in natural gas next year to have a new fracking equipment available that we want to import because all the sets for fracking that are in Argentina are already committed for next year. So we need to import a new set and we are still dealing with the complexity of the matter. We are optimistic we will solve it, but it's key for our production in 2023.
spk05: Thank you, Gus. Considering that we are running out of time, we are taking, answering the last question from Andrés Cardona from Citibank. He has two questions. Any chance you reconsider to do capital allocation to the oil window of Vaca Muerta? Business economics have materially improved recently.
spk01: I fully agree that the outlook is very good. And we have been working this year in order to begin the development of our final area. But as I explained before, the area that we own, we own about 50% of it. So we need to reach an agreement with our partner and sometimes it's not as easy as you would think it takes time to reach a consensus to begin the development so we are working on that we are eager to do so and we hope we will be able to announce something next year
spk05: Thank you, Gus. And the last question from Andres Cardona is regarding EMP. Can you please provide an update about full cycle break-evens for gas at both tight shale assets? Can you please split between OPEX and CAPEX?
spk04: Hi, sorry. Our lifting cost is already provided in the presentation. It's about $0.70, between $0.70 and $0.80 per million BTU. Full cycle depends a lot. I will say Shell gas is way higher as we are still not in a factory mode, but it's pretty close to $4 for Shell. And for Thai, it's way lesser, of course. But you can see at our website, financial statements that were operating cash flow in EMP, it's positive. So prices are quite accommodating in the full circle in Taigas.
spk05: Thank you, Liz. This concludes the Q&A session. So we will turn to Lira for final remarks.
spk04: Thank you, everybody, for joining our call. We are on top of the hour. Would you like to comment on something that we missed? Petrochemicals, maybe? No. But you should have any questions. I think we answered all of them seriously this time. If you have any, just reach us out. Margarita and I, we will be very happy to answer them. Thank you. Have a good year. See you next year.
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