<article><p class="lead">Argentina's state-owned Enarsa will resume a direct role in LNG purchasing starting next year, displacing state-controlled YPF that had been carrying out the business on its behalf since 2012.</p><p>Enarsa says the decision, which it conveyed to YPF yesterday, will save the firm per-tender fees that will total around 50mn pesos ($3.3mn) this year.</p><p>YPF was tasked with the country's LNG purchases since November 2012, months after the government of former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner expropriated a majority stake in the company from Spain's Repsol.</p><p>The move was seen at the time as a way to bolster the new state-controlled company's international credentials and strategic role in the economy.</p><p>Until then, Enarsa had been conducting the purchases since LNG imports began in 2008, a response to plummeting domestic gas production and soaring demand. </p><p>Argentina has two LNG receiving terminals in Bahia Blanca and Escobar, both in Buenos Aires province. YPF is currently in discussions with local conglomerate Corporacion America to build a third terminal.</p><p>Through 20 October, Enarsa had committed to receiving 50 LNG cargoes at Escobar at an average price of $5.64/mn Btu and 29 cargoes at Bahia Blanca at an average of $5.27/mn Btu. </p><p>In the past few months, Enarsa started publishing LNG import data as part of a new campaign of transparency by President Mauricio Macri, who took office in December 2015.</p><p>There has been controversy surrounding the country's LNG purchases in the past and a federal judge is investigating former planning minister Julio De Vido for alleged surcharges in the operations.</p></article>
