Argentina: Patagonian Governors Threaten to Cut Gas and Oil

The governors of the Argentine provinces of the Patagonian region analyzed this Saturday suspending the production of gas and oil from next Wednesday, in the midst of escalating tensions with the government of Javier Milei for the allocation of funds of the partnership.

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Leaders of the south of the country supported the president of Chubut, Ignacio Torres, in his open confrontation with Milei and "defined a joint strategy to protect the partnership through a law", according to provincial sources cited by the newspaper La Nación and RT.

Torres, along with a group of provincial leaders, denounced this Friday an "extortion" by the Milei administration, warning that it will interrupt the exit of hydrocarbons if the transfer of the funds of the partnership is not regularized.

"The national government wants to discipline the provinces by killing Chubut, a small province that is far from Buenos Aires. But we will defend our resources to the last consequences," Torres told the newspaper La Nación

Torres stressed in a statement that "the provinces are pre-existing to the nation and deserve respect. No one may subject or extort them with threats of restriction of public funds belonging to them in their own right".

The governors maintained that in February the Ministry of Economy "illegally withheld 16,500 million Argentine pesos, (about 17 million dollars), more than a third of its monthly share", from Chubut. "If the Ministry of Economy does not give Chubut its resources, then Chubut will not give up its oil and gas".

Javier Milei responded this Sunday that cutting off the supply of hydrocarbons, would involve violating the right to property, but according to the Argentine Constitution, natural resources are property of the provinces, which may grant concessions to companies for their exploitation, as is the case with hydrocarbons.