A plenary of Senate committees has approved reforms to the Hydrocarbons law, sending the bill for debate in the Upper House where it will be voted on Wednesday October 8.
YPF president Miguel Galuccio was among those who defended the proposed changes, asserting that the new legislation would allow Argentina to reduce costly importations of petroleum and encourage investment to exploit the country’s oil and gas reserves.
«If we achieve that level of investment and that translates into employment and royalties, this will allow a reduction in our dependency on imports, which is very expensive for the country,» Galuccio outlined during his presentation to the Senate committees.
After securing consensus from the governors of petrol-producing provinces, the government sought committee approval to debate the proposed modifications to the 1967 Hydrocarbons law in the Upper House.
For Galuccio, «the change to the 1967 law spells out the role of the national government and the provinces as the base of a national energy policy, and updates legislation for non-conventional and off-shore [reserves]».
«The investments that must come to Argentina are competing with investments that other companies that make in other parts of the world,» he warned, explaining that Argentina was in competition with Colombia, Mexico and Brazil to capture foreign investors.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald