Govt. postpones Enarsa vote for 1 week

Argentina's governing PJ (Partido Justicialista) party has postponed for one week a vote in congress' lower house over the creation of state energy company Enarsa because of a lack of intra-party consensus, local newspapers reported. The government had planned to present the bill to congress for a vote on Wednesday (Sep.29), but delayed doing so while it attempts to resolve internal divisions. Despite senate approval of the company's creation in August, PJ legislators cannot agree over whether the bill should be modified to make Enarsa a state-owned company, which would give the government more control over its operations, or whether it should be a private company, as proposed by the government. In addition, economy minister Roberto Lavagna, who opposes the bill, is said to be "pulling some strings" to block Enarsa's creation, newspaper El Cronista quoted lawmakers as saying. Lavagna has publicly disagreed with planning minister Julio de Vido in recent weeks over the bill. Lavagna wants funds for public works projects to be given directly to the provinces rather than centralizing funds in Enarsa. However, de Vido appeared before congress recently to defend the Enarsa bill, saying Enarsa "will be a useful tool for the country's industrial project." The government's proposal would give the federal government 53% of Enarsa and provincial governments 12%, with the remaining 35% listed on the stock market. Enarsa would allow the government to regulate the energy market and acquire "a protagonist role in the region," de Vido said. In addition, Enarsa will own all the exploration permits and production concessions for offshore areas not currently under license. However, some lawmakers have questioned the necessity and role of Enarsa. Despite senate approval, it remains to be seen if Enarsa will have a regulatory function in the industry or act as a purely commercial company competing with its private sector counterparts. However, these doubts could vanish after Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA opens its office in Buenos Aires on October 1, newspaper Infobae reported. PDVSA is expected to play a key role in the development of Enarsa and once its office opens for business, PDVSA could announce joint projects with Enarsa, such as opening a new chain of service stations or buying Anglo-Dutch company Shell's fuel distribution business, which would clear the way for congress to pass the bill, the paper reported. PDVSA and Enarsa could also team up on exploration and production projects later, the paper said.