Queues continued at gas stations in order to get gasoline in Argentina, and despite the statements of Economy Minister Sergo Massa, that he would stop crude oil exports, the crisis still continues in the country.
The main oil syndicate in Vaca Muerta, the world’s fourth largest oil reserve, has announced a strike on Wednesday if the situation does not return to normal, Argentina’s Telma agency said.
“If the fuel supply problem is not solved, from Wednesday they will not be able to export one more vessel,”said Massa, economy minister and presidential candidate of the ruling party.
In the city of Buenos Aires and in the interior of the country, lines continued to load gasoline and diesel at service stations, where a quota was set in some of them to rationalize sales of available inventory.
The problem arose due to the technical shutdown of a refinery belonging to the state oil company YPF, which was unable to pay for imported fuel due to the shortage of dollars suffered by the central bank, which led to the establishment of an import permit system.
In this context, the Ministry of Energy reported that it will allow the import of 10 ships loaded with fuel to meet the demand that has grown above normal due to a long weekend that witnessed great tourist activity, in addition to the possibility of devaluation and price hikes” after the presidential elections a week ago.
“In addition to the unconditional support for the export lockdown announced by Massa at midnight on Tuesday, if companies continue to punish Argentina, our union organization will begin a complete cessation of activities with production affected starting on Wednesday,” said the private sector union, oil and gas in the provinces of Rio Negro, Neuquen and La Pampa.
Two sources from private oil companies said that the threat to stop crude oil exports is an “electoral” measure that does not solve the problem because the lack of supply is due to the limited refineries operating at maximum capacity.
Halting exports would generate less foreign exchange income that the country desperately needs to boost its reserves and would affect the government’s intention to encourage foreign sales in the sector, which it sought to boost last month when it announced that oil companies would be able to liquidate.
