Enarsa takes back Argentina LNG business from YPF

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.

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.

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.

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.

Until then, Enarsa had been conducting the purchases since LNG imports began in 2008, a response to plummeting domestic gas production and soaring demand.

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.

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.

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.

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.