Martin Bidegaray
10/28/2020 6:01 AM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 10/28/2020 6:01 AM
The Government included, in the Budget bill, the recognition of a debt with gas producers in 2018. What is striking is that this debt - close to $ 30,000 million - was in a decree signed by the previous administration, but
the ruling party had already repealed it
in the Senate.
Now, Minister Martín Guzmán would guarantee to pay this liability, the same one that the Frente de Todos block had partially discharged (it was never repealed in Deputies).
The difficulties of the ruling party to establish clear rules regarding gas production continue to accumulate.
In addition to the comings and goings for compensation in 2018, there are doubts about the Gas Plan announced by the Government two weeks ago.
Nothing is firm so far on how much the producers will charge.
What was reflected in the Budget is that
companies will be able to have tax certificates
nominated in dollars that allow them to pay taxes.
The compensation for gas producers comes from the Mauricio Macri administration.
The producers sold gas to the distributors - those that supply homes and businesses - at a dollar of $ 20, but the currency went to $ 32. That difference meant that the distributors had to pay the companies "compensations" for the devaluation, because that was in the concession contract.
The distributors decided to transfer it to users, with the green light of the then Secretary of Energy, Javier Iguacel.
But the situation generated a political scandal, and the Executive Power agreed that the State would take over that debt, through a decree.
The State paid the first installment of the debt.
But the controller of Enargas, Federico Bernal, denounced the previous administration and challenged all its decisions.
For this reason, the majority bloc of the Frente de Todos in the Senate annulled the decision to pay the compensation.
He ignored a decision of another power of the State, in a legal gesture rarely seen.
The producers - among them, YPF - expected to collect those $ 30,000 million.
Deputies never validated the withdrawal of the decree promoted by the Senate.
Now, the new Budget law opens up hope for them: they
will have to renounce the rights granted them by the decree of the previous administration, which is annulled.
But, in return, they will receive a public title for the equivalent of the debt.
With respect to the latest government announcement on the Gas plan, the State's numbers for producers remain unclear.
When it was introduced, it was said that they would be paid between $ 3.30 and $ 3.50 per million BTUs, the industry unit of measure.
The gas distributors would pay a part (about US $ 2), and the state would take care of the rest.
But the regulation of those numbers has not yet appeared.
The budget details that gas producers will have "tax credit certificates issued electronically and in foreign currency."
Those certificates will be applicable to the cancellation of tax debts.
Companies now know that they can pay taxes in dollars with those certificates.
But it has not yet been said how much they will charge for the gas they extract, how much the private companies will be responsible for and how much the State will charge.
Anyway, in the sector they say that the two largest companies already have those numbers in their next projections.
Look also
Internal in the government for the price of gas
The YPF CEO's plan: price increases, costs reduction and greater financial discipline
