The Secretary of Energy of the Nation, Flavia Royon, spoke about the project that proposes the Regime for the Promotion of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) before a plenary session of the Energy and Fuels and Budget and Treasury Commissions of the Chamber of Deputies.
“Vaca Muerta is the second unconventional gas reserve in the world and our challenge is to take advantage of and monetize that potential,” began the Secretary of Energy. “Today there is an opportunity in the world LNG market for Argentina. The LNG projects are going to make it possible for us to export the Vaca Muerta resources beyond the region,” she added.
Royon explained that “LNG is a possibility to add value and industrialize Vaca Muerta gas.” “Today the Vaca Muerta resource is only 8% developed, so we still have a great resource,” he added, while noting that gas is defined as a transition fuel, because it emits fewer emissions than coal.
The LNG Promotion Regime, according to the Secretary of Energy, seeks to “favor the conditions for the industrialization of natural gas and encourage the development of the entire LNG chain, as well as the associated capital goods industry.”
“We have to provide the conditions of fiscal and tax stability to be able to provide the competitiveness required by these projects that have a great impact on the Argentine economy,” he added.
Also, before the deputies, Royon argued that “these projects would change the productive and economic reality of Argentina, they are very capital-intensive projects, very strong in investment, which require at least three years of construction.” “We are convinced that Vaca Muerta and Argentina have a huge chance in LNG projects,” he said.
In the document presented to the legislators, it is explained that the LNG Promotion Regime proposes a regulatory framework that provides legal certainty to local and foreign investors, an international level tax framework and fiscal, regulatory and exchange stability.
During the plenary session, the Secretary of Energy was accompanied by María Daniela Bossio, BCRA Financial Regulation Advisor; Juan José Imirizaldu, National Tax Director; German Plessen, Undersecretary for Macroeconomic Programming, and Claudia Balestrini, Undersecretary for Public Revenue.
In the context of the debate on the LNG Promotion Regime, the president of YPF SA, Pablo González, together with the staff of the energy company, also spoke.