Argentina ‘Total Energy Program’ Breeds Total Skepticism

BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- When the Argentine government announced a plan late Thursday to subsidize liquid fuels to make them as affordable to industries as natural gas, it gave it the grandiose title of the “Total Energy Plan.”

But this latest bid to fix a relentless energy crisis has met with immediate skepticism from industry analysts, who see it facing huge logistical challenges, generating punitive fiscal costs and creating a black market in fuels.


“This doesn’t seem like a plan to me. It is just an announcement,” said Gerardo Rabinovich, a director with the General Mosconi Argentine Energy Institute, a local think tank. He said it was more of a response to the mounting concern of a general public alarmed by long lines at service stations and from angry taxi drivers who’ve had their supply of compressed natural gas cut off.

Continuing shortfalls in both gas and power have reached a crisis point this week as unprecedented sub-zero temperatures have driven up household heating demand for gas and frozen the runoff that normally fills Andean hydroelectric dams.

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