The Government expects US $ 40,000 million in oil investment for foreign exchange

The Government has clarified some of the benefits the decree will provide will facilitate, under certain conditions, the free availability of dollars for oil companies. Companies that export heavy crude oil (mostly those outside Neuquén) will have a more flexible calculation to get that benefit than those that take light oil.

In Economics they expect that proposal generate investments for US $ 40,000 million from this year to 2026. For this year, they expect disbursements of US $ 6,000 million by operators.

Although the benefits of this ordinance will begin to be seen in 2023, in Economics they believe that only around 2024 will it be possible to see if companies have adopted a path of continued growth to earn dollars, in through investments. The order was announced on Tuesday, but there were no details.

The oil companies already increase production by 20% in 2022 compared to this year they will have access to a special regime. With the surplus — the new production —, they can ask the Central Bank to give them 20% in dollars, where they will have free availability.

For heavy oil makers, the greater the advantage. The Government allows them to depart from the lower baseline, with a decrease of 10% compared to 2021. That is, if they increase their production by 20%, the request for free availability of dollars will not run from 2021 level, but from 10 % less than made this year.

For example, what would be the case of a company that produces 150,000 barrels of oil per day. If everything is “light” crude (Neuquén), they can request free availability of dollars if they reach 180,000 barrels. But if the company gets “heavy” crude (like most of the Patagonian basins outside Neuquén), the calculation will be made on a 135,000-barrel basis. That way, you can ask for “free” dollars, if you reach 165,000 barrels.

The request for “free” dollars operates under the following procedure: Oil companies are showing their year-on-year increase. Of that number, they go to the Ministry of Economy. And authorization comes to the Central Bank to give them 20% of their dollar improvement. Those dollars can be transferred as profit to the main company or kept abroad to pay obligations. (debts, oil services), as the companies ask.

The percentage of “free” dollars can grow a few more points. It depends on whether the oil company hires local service companies. In that case, the benefit of free availability it will be bigger.

In the case of gas, companies can access this benefit if they increase their production by 30% compared to this year. The gas pipeline that connects Dead cow including Buenos Aires. To fill that pipeline, oil companies will have to inject more gas than this winter.

The Ministry of Energy will issue to provide gas supply for that phase (it is estimated that this will be called the Gas V plan), but the Economy will strengthen that bet by paying a plus. The companies agree to inject cubic meters. If they are able to allocate 30% more than in 2021, they will also receive the “prize”.

The possibility of having freely available dollars, to pay off a debts, paying dividends or hiring teams overseas is exciting to companies. They feel they can get out of the trap somehow.

In the Economy there is no definite figure on tax savings that will generate greater local production in exchange for imports. But with Hydrocarbons they estimate the country could save from paying between US $ 2,000 million and US $ 2,500 million with this possibility.