06/17/2021 9:16 AM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 06/17/2021 9:33 AM
The Government confirmed
that there will be no further increases in the second half of 2021 for gas, electricity and fuel services
.
The news was given by the Secretary of Energy of the Nation, Darío Martínez.
According to the official, prices are pressured by the rise in the price of oil and other factors that come into play.
However, he clarified that the
Government does not plan to raise rates in the second half of 2021
for gasoline.
The same applies to electricity and gas rates for the rest of the year in this context of a pandemic.
"The President and the Vice President decided this year that there are already many difficulties
not to have an impact on rates and that is a decision that we transfer
," he said.
Martínez explained that a barrel of Brent today is trading at US $ 74.1.
That, added to the tax burden and the current situation of biofuels, converges to increase rates.
However, he assured that they believe there should be no increase in the second semester.
"The current price should be like this until the end of the year," he
told the Río Negro newspaper.
"This creates a tension between the State and the producers, but we believe that prices should not change in the second semester, there should be no increases. It is true that Brent rises and prices are defined by the producers,
but we believe that there should not be any movements in the second semester, "he
said.
He then indicated that, for the segmentation of gas rates, we will have to wait, and explained:
“We want to make an intelligent use of subsidies
, it is a complex process of building a database that was never done and, in a context of pandemic , it is even more difficult ”.
He also spoke about the bill for the Promotion of Investments in the hydrocarbon sector.
"We elaborated a draft that has several alternatives and we are waiting for the validation with the highest government authorities
and then there we return with the producers, provinces, workers, SMEs, chambers and all those involved," he said.
"There will be differential treatment of income tax and withholdings, and a chapter for special projects, such as underground deposits for gas production, industrialization and offshore development, and a stimulus for low productivity wells," he added.
Regarding the Vaca Muerta gas pipeline, the official described it as a
"key work"
, and confirmed that financing is being sought
"which may be from China
, with which a memorandum of understanding was signed, since it can demand between US $ 3,000 and US $ 3,500 million ".
It also included in this matter the need to expand the San Martín gas pipeline to increase the transportation capacity of the Austral Basin;
the Central to San Jerónimo, probably in two years;
and the repowering of the GNEA.
YN
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