Oil fiscal regime and national oil companies. The hydrocarbon sector in Argentina 2003–2022

Abstract

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The Argentinian hydrocarbon sector's performance has displayed distinctive characteristics when compared to other Latin American experiences, as the ones in Brazil, Bolivia or Ecuador. State control over the sector has been the common feature among these experiences, but in the Argentinian case it has been deployed cautiously since 2003. Only since 2012 did State involvement become more prominent through the Hydrocarbon Sovereignty Act, as it had been delimited to prices, access to supply and taxes on exports until 2011. This strategy was partially interrupted after Mauricio Macri's victory in the 2015 presidential elections. Based on these changes, to what extent did the model consolidated with the 2012 act represent a radical change or a mere adjustment in the dynamics of Argentina's oil and gas sector? How did the oil model implemented in the 2003–2015 period affect the dynamics of the sector and what were the implications of these changes? And, taking into account the return of liberalizing policies under the mandate of Mauricio Macri and certain return to extractivism under that of Alberto Fernández, what lessons can be derived from the Argentinian case for the configuration of oil policies focused on achieving energy self-sufficiency and on changing the productive matrix? Answering these questions is the objective of this work.