Argentina plans new fuel shipments

Argentina’s government will import 10 fuel shipments to guarantee local supply of petrol and diesel after a recent demand spike and shortages, the country’s energy secretariat said.

The measure aims to resolve shortages in recent days that led to long lines at service stations in the country to fill up with petrol as well as concerns among farmers of a scarcity of diesel, key for the upcoming planting season.

Argentine refineries supply 80% of the local market while the rest comes from fuel imports, which have been delayed due to a painful lack of foreign currency reserves, said Guillermo Lego, executive manager of hydrocarbon trade federation CECHA.

The government, looking to tamp down triple-digit inflation, has also frozen the local crude oil barrel price after a 20% devaluation in August. Oil firms sell a barrel of oil to the local market at $56, below the $88 international price.

That can be a disincentive to sell and means firms face making a loss marketing imported product bought at full price.

Farm groups have also said that a lack of diesel could impact the start of planting, key for the country’s major soy and corn crops, which are expected to bounce back after the last harvest was battered by drought.