This Monday the LNG promotion bill obtained a majority opinion in the Chamber of Deputies, so it will finally arrive at the venue this Tuesday. One of the modifications will allow for a greater number of promoted projects. In any case, the legislators of Together for Change were against it, and the one who came to the crossroads was the current deputy Rolando Figueroa, elected governor of Neuquén. There is business expectationgiven that the private sector thought that this year it would not be discussed due to the elections, and they assure that, without a legal framework, the millionaire investments.
The bill that establishes a Liquefied Natural Gas Promotion Regime (GNL) obtained a majority opinion from the Energy and Budget Committees. It will be discussed this Tuesday at the venue, in a special session called for 12 o’clock.
The project that reaches Congress It will be different from the one sent from the Executive Branch, according to what was communicated Santiago Igon, president of the Energy commission and deputy of the Frente de Todos. One of the main modifications is in article 6, which, although it changes a “and” for an “o”, implies an important modification, because it will allow for a greater number of promoted projects.
Thus, article 6 will say that the criteria to access the benefits of the promotion will be: “Contemplate an aggregate investment commitment of at least US$ 1,000 million, or a minimum installed production capacity of 1 million tons of LNG per anus”. Igón explained: “This way we will be able to respect those who already have installed infrastructure capacity for the investment they have made.”
Another of the modifications was regarding withholdings. In the original ruling, there were “mobile” export duties, that is, variable between 0% and 8% depending on the international price per million BTU (the unit of measurement for LNG). With the changes, export duties may continue to rise and “close” at 15%, when values exceed US$35 per million BTU. “This means that once the price exceeds US$20, export duties continue to increase, but we work on a line that becomes more horizontal, to close at 15%, assured Igón.
Legislators from Together for Change went out to the project intersection
Deputy Francisco Sanchez, from the PRO block of Neuquén, questioned the speed of the treatment. Even though he affirms that “a sector of my province has great expectations for this type of laws, but this is not the way.” Even, Jimena Latorre, radical deputy, called the project a “kiosquito” by stating: “There would be no need for this new kiosk that they are opening if we had something elementary called legal security and macroeconomic stability. Two months after leaving, they leave this regime that is harmful.”
However, The law is key for investments to occur, according to one of the leading legal firms in Dead cow. “When foreign investors consult us, they tell us that, without a guarantee of fiscal stability, without export permits and without a percentage of access to foreign currency, they do not invest. That stability could only arrive in several years, the question is if we can wait those years,” commented the lawyer, who preferred not to be mentioned. According to sources in the sector, although the most relevant project is that of YPF-Petronas, due to the magnitude of investments that would amount to $50 billion, there are four LNG projects. “Argentina could be an LNG powerhouse”they added from the law firm.
For this reasonGermán Martínez, president of the FdT bloc, came out very strongly at the JxC intersection: “They are not saying any specific comments to modify any article, they are only coming to make a global challenge to the issue, when in the two previous commissions no one had questioned the importance of have a promotion regime. We are missing a strategic debate on something that Argentina has a huge opportunity for, the window of opportunity is now.”
In the same line, Rolando Figueroatoday a MPN deputy but since December governor of Neuquén, where the largest Vaca Muerta deposits are located, was very critical of the project’s opponents. “The ignorance of some alarms me. They say this is not the time before an election. When is the time for a state policy? We have the challenge of monetizing the subsoil, if we do not do it when the world demands it, we are going to lose it.”
Source: Ambito
