Nation puts Vaca Muerta between two questions so that gasoline does not go up

This form of price control will imply that for the liquidation of each barrel, a dollar is taken at $ 45.19. It's a price that goes back up to August 9th.

In turn The value that will be taken is a gross Brent of $ 59 for each barrel.

The ceiling for oil and the dollar will last 90 days.and, as indicated by national government sources.

The measure announced by President Mauricio Macri This will have an impact on two central variables of Neuquén's economy: on the one hand, the provincial collection related to royalties. Neuquén had made successive jumps in this part of its revenues, about 30% of its 2019 budget, although the increase in production had allowed for increased participation in the budget.

At the same time, it remains to be seen how the operators reacted during the last four months of the year, when they had shifted their investments to crude oil because of the prevailing uncertainty in the market. of gas outside the months of higher seasonal consumption This will be substantial, even more important than the collection of the tax via royalties: it is the engine of the province, which moves the rest of the economy and has protected the province in recent years.

60% of hydrocarbon investments this year would be devoted, in particular, to unconventional shale oil. The total commitments of the oil companies for production alone is $ 5343 million.

The definition came when producers were about to apply an increase in their gasoline. Major operators in the country were already forecasting a 5% increase in the number of suppliers. This is the extra bit of economic bad mood that the Macri administration is trying to control in the middle of the complicated path that remains, at least, until the October 22 elections.

It's paradoxical, but the national government ends up affecting what was the only place where he could get good news.in particular since March 2017, when he created the shake gas subsidy Vaca Muerta, a stimulant on which he finally intervened, causing a first short circuit with the oil companies.

The week before the elections, Secretary of Energy Gustavo Lopetegui and Finance Minister Nicolás Dujovne visited Loma Campana (YPF) and summoned a handful of national and local journalists to give them details on the issue. economic road map and the energy sector in the country. means of transit for the elections.

Part of this agenda apart from the one that is strictly related to crude oil production is also now between two issues or is being sprayed. At least until the electoral mystery is elucidated: the new Salliqueló gas pipeline (Buenos Aires), essential for the future of Neuquino gas, and the oil export route, that YPF and Vista Oil had already begun to explore.

For operators, set a parallel exchange rate for the sector, is a bucket of ice water. Since the end of 2018, they have been shouting in the sky, applying deductions for the production of crude oil, which represents four pesos per dollar of production.

This has led to complications, particularly for non-integrated oil companies, those that produce crude oil but do not have their own refineries to process it. In this scenario, small businesses had overcome the scenario of additional downward prices.

The price, a central variable

Regardless of the impact it has on its revenues from the production and sale of gasoline, the value of Brent, and now this kind of parallel contribution with the intervention of the Stateit is central when calibrating the investment curve in the shale segment. This is a time when many companies are optimizing their production costs at Vaca Muerta, but the margin, for the less experienced, also raises questions about the profitability of the investment with a barrel at 58 dollars.

This is part of what will be elucidated in the coming months, in the midst of a very busy final national mandate, and with questions about the policy to be followed by the sector, regardless of the political sign that may remain at Casa Rosada.

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