The government recalculates: it is now estimated that the increase in gas will be less than 30%

"We still need to know how much it will cost but the gas rate increase will be less than 30%", said Lopetegui at a meeting with reporters who participated domain.com.

With this recalculation of gas prices, the government follows the schedule of increases corresponding to the 28% inflation estimated this year by private consultants in the survey on market expectations conducted by the Central Bank .

Although a public hearing is taking place to define the increases in October and December, the official predicted that calls for gas offers in recent days and calm dollar prices would predict an increase less than expected nearly two months ago.

"Making estimates with bid results and exchange rate estimates would say that 35%, up to 30%, and probably less than 30% throughout the year," Lopetegui responded to the consultation. that means.

According to the energy portfolio, the average price of gas purchase by the distributors in the electronic gas market (MEGSA) in the whole country has been established at 4.56 USD per million BTU after two days of adjudication.

For the moment, the contracts provide that the dollar price will be converted into pesos according to the exchange rate established by Enargas during the first week of March, leaving the foreign exchange risk borne by the seller, as stipulated by the decree 1053 / 2018. .

The Energy Secretary himself badured that "there will be more complaints from distributors" regarding a devaluation, because the offer included both the price of the product and the price of the product. 39, gasoline and exchange rate insurance.

"This will avoid the problems of the previous semester," said Lopetegui, referring to the bond that the government had promised to pay gas distributors to offset the devaluation of last year.

The program to meet gas demand for this year is based on two pillars: local production and gas imports. According to estimates by the Energy Secretariat, approximately US $ 1,800 million will be allocated this year to gas purchase. Some $ 1.2 billion will be used to pay for gas from Bolivia, while the remaining $ 600 million will be used to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) by sea.

However, during these hours, the government celebrates a new agreement signed with Bolivia that will allow Argentina to save about 460 million US dollars over the next two years by eliminating the fines provided in the initial contract signed in 2006.

"We corrected a huge asymmetry in the fines initially planned for the import of gas from Bolivia, while they only paid 15% in case of non-compliance, we had to recognize 100% of the contract initial, which included months without demand and therefore we did not matter, "Lopetegui said when presenting the addendum to the press.

In return, the government agreed to a price increase of Bolivian gas of about 10.3%, segmented by the gas import according to much higher demand during the winter months. "The seasonality is such that we will have to continue to import gas for two or three years," said Secretary of Energy.