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Argentina

( Last update: September 2006 )

Electricity Market
Sector structure
Upstream The sector is partially privatised and mostly liberalised.

Generation is made up of 60 companies, mainly private, including foreign companies such as the Spanish Endesa, the Group Total, the US-based AES, the Brazilian Petrobras and the Group Pluspetrol.

The national government retains two nuclear power plants (Embalse and Atucha) and one hydroelectric plant (Río Grande). Two hydroelectric plants are owned jointly with other governments (Salto Grande with Uruguay and Yacyretá with Paraguay). Other generation facilities are owned by the Federal Governments.

The main generators (all private) are Del çguila C. Puerto and Genelba and accounted for 19% of total production in 2003.

An independent market operator (MO) is responsible for dispatching operations: the Compania Administradora del Mercado Mayorista Electrico (CAMMESA) jointly-owned by the State (20%) and the associations of generators, transporters, distributors and eligible consumers (80%).

CAMMESA administrates the wholesale market, organized as a pool, where both spot and long-terms transactions take place.

Cross-ownership restrictions between generation, transmission and distribution.
Networks Transmission is privatized while distribution is partially privatized.

The main transmission company is the private company Compania Nacional de Transporte Energetica en Alta Tension (Transener). The private companies YACYLEC, L.I.T.S.A, ENECOR and TIBA make up the rest of the transmission market. They are the licensed owner and operator of the transmission system.

The main distribution companies are Edenor (51% owned by the Argentinean Group EASA - Electricidad Argentina Sociedad Argentina), Edesur (majority owned by a subsidiary of Endesa) and Edelap controlled by AES.

Access to the networks is via regulated TPA.

The National Electricity Regulatory Board (ENRE), the electricity regulator, sets tariffs for the use of transmission and distribution systems.
Downstream The sector is partially privatized.

Supply is open to private companies and partially competitive. The ENRE approves tariffs for not-eligible consumers.

As in distribution, the dominating companies are Edenor, Edesur and Edelap. The distribution companies had exclusive concessions to sell electricity to households and other small users within their areas at regulated prices.

Eligibility level set at 30 kW.
Gas Market
Sector structure
Upstream The sector is privatised.

Gas production is dominated by the privately-owned companies Repsol-YPF (33% of the market) and the Total Austral SA (19%).

Wholesale prices are liberalized for transactions between producers and distributors or retailers and to eligibility end-users since January 1994.
Networks Transmission and distribution are privatized.

The national transmission system is controlled by two private companies: Transportadora de Gas del Sur (60% of delivereies) (TGS), controlled by the largest south American pipeline company Petrobras, and Transportadora de Gas del Norte controlled by argentine TGN son Gasinvest S.A. and CMS Gas Argentina Co.

Export pipelines to Chile, Brazil and Uruguay are controlled by a variety of private, mostly foreign-owned companies.

Distribution is dominated by privately and mostly foreign-owned MetroGas, Gas Natural Ban, Camuzzi Gas Pampeana and Camuzzi Gas del Sur.

Access to the networks is via regulated TPA and tariffs for the use of the grids are established by the National Electricity Regulatory Board (ENARGAS), the gas industry regulator.

Ownership restrictions between networks activities and other gas activities:
  • Gas producers, storage companies, and eligible consumers can may not own a controlling stake in a transmission or distribution company.
  • Distributors are not allowed to hold a controlling stake in a transmission company, and vice versa.
Downstream The sector is privatized.

As in the case of distribution, supply is dominated by MetroGas, Gas Natural Ban, Camuzzi Gas Pampeana and Camuzzi Gas del Sur, which sell gas to non eligible consumers at regulated prices.

Eligibility level is set at 10,000 cm/day.
Current issues Reforms are underway to reinforce security of supply. They include establishment of state-owned energy company Enarsa and incentives for greater investment in downstream infrastructure. There are also plans to raise and eventually liberalize energy prices.

Construction on Argentina's third nuclear plant, which had been suspended since 1994, was reinitiated by the government in 2003.

Plans are underway to build a second gas import pipeline from Bolivia.

Plans are also underway to expand the domestic gas transmission system, via international financing backed by tariff surcharges.

Argentina faced a supply crunch in 2004 which forced it to indefinitely reduce gas exports to Chile. Argentina is Chile's sole source of gas and the reductions have introduced tensions between the two countries.
National Legislation Legislation for electricity available at ENRE website (in Spanish only, select "Qual es Enre?", then “Marco Regulatorio")
Legislation for natural gas available at ENARGAS website (in Spanish only)
Sources IERN staff on publicly available information