Argentina | Gazprom International

Argentina is a region with strategically important potential for Gazprom. Discoveries of significant hydrocarbon deposits and the rapid increase in natural gas consumption by different sectors of the South American economy mean there is great potential for the Russian company to develop successful partner relations with this country. Gazprom International is holding talks to discuss its possible participation in joint projects in Argentina.

At the G-20 summit in Mexico in June 2012, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, met with the head of the Argentinian republic, Cristina Kirchner, where they reached an agreement regarding the development of collaboration with the Russian company Gazprom.

In September of the same year, during meetings between the head of the Russian gas concern Alexey Miller and Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF) CEO Miguel Galluccio,Alexey Miller said that Gazprom was looking into the possibility of exporting batches of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Argentina. Gazprom is successfully developing the LNG trade and transportation segment. At the end of 2013, the company's trading division Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GM&T) won a tender to deliver ten batches of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the Argentinian companies YPF and Enarsa in 2015. It is planned that they will all be delivered to the Bahia Blanca terminal.

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The Argentine Republic is a state in south-east South America. The word "Argentina" means "silver", "land of silver". It is the eighth largest country in the world, covering a territory of 2.8 million square kilometres, not including the Malvinas (Falkland Islands). As at 2013, the country had a population of over 42 million. Almost 90% of the population are not indigenous and are of European descent.

Argentina is also known as The Land of Six Continents as its territories include the south-eastern part of the continent, the eastern part of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago and the nearby Isla de los Estados. It borders with Chile in the west, with Bolivia and Paraguay in the north and with Brazil and Uruguay in the north-east. Its shores are lapped by the Atlantic Ocean in the east. Argentina's land stretches a long way from north to south; the country crosses several climatic zones, from the tropics to Antarctica, with its longest expanse covering a distance of 3,700 kilometres. Its long coastal border has played an important role in the development of foreign economic relations.

The capital of Argentina is Buenos Aires with a population of almost 3 million. It was founded by Pedro de Mendoza in 1536. At that time it was just a small village named Santa Maria del Buen Aire.

Argentina is a federal republic made up of 22 provinces, the Buenos Aires federal district and part of Tierra del Fuego.

Its parliament comprises the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The president is elected for a four-year term. Since December 2007, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (of the Justicialist Party) has held the post of President of Argentina. She is the widow of Nestor Kirchner who was president from May 2003 to December 2007. In October 2011 she was re-elected to a second term.

Argentina is considered one of the world's most dynamically developing economies. The country is powered mainly by oil and gas, but hydropower and nuclear energy are playing an increasingly larger role. Its energy output per capita is higher than any other country in Latin America.

Argentina's oil deposits were known long before the Spanish conquest. In 1860, the Argentinian Martin de Moussy founded the first oil and kerosene production company. Today, the country's known oil reserves are estimated at 500 million tonnes. The main mining areas are the provinces of Mendoza, Santa Cruz, Chubut, Rio Negra, Neuquen and Tierra del Fuego.

Argentina's oil refining industry is quite well developed. It is based in the oil mining centres: Campo Duran in the north, Comodoro Rivadavia in the south and Lujan de Cuyo in Mendoza, although the largest oil refineries are at Rio de La Plata and Campana.

Argentina has a comprehensive gas supply network which it continues to expand through both private and state investment. Gas is produced at fields which are mainly in the north, although a large amount of these hydrocarbons extracted are in the form of associated gas. Proven reserves of natural gas in Argentina currently amount to around 300 billion cubic metres, with 334.2 million tonnes of oil. Production of natural gas in the country in 2011 amounted to around 40 billion cubic metres, with 30 million tonnes of oil, against 46.5 billion cubic metres and 29.7 million tonnes per year respectively of domestic consumption.

The exploration, transportation and marketing of oil and natural gas in the republic are carried out by Argentina's national oil and gas company YPF.

The main production regions are Neuquen, Santa Cruz, Salta and Tierra del Fuego. Due to the considerable increase in its gas production, Argentina is now an exporting country. It has pipelines to transport gas to Brazil and Uruguay (from Neuquen province). Argentina has the world's largest number of gas-fuelled vehicles.

Major changes in the gas sector began in June 1992 when privatisation began. In compliance with the so-called "gas law" that was passed, the country's gas monopoly, the national Gas del Estado, was divided into eight small companies; two pipeline companies were also created. Changes in the country's gas sector and the Open Access policy soon began to give positive results, attracting more and more foreign companies.

Electric power is one of the fastest developing sectors in Argentine industry. Experts believe that the implementation of Argentina's large hydroelectricity projects: the El Chocon dam on the Limay River in the Cerros Colorados and the Rio Negro, Salto Grande hydroelectric power station on the  Uruguay River, means that hydropower will play an increasingly important role.

Argentina was the first Latin American country to develop nuclear power. In 1974, the Atucha nuclear power plant near Buenos Aires with a capacity of 340,000 kW began operating; other nuclear power plants are under construction.