2004 Argentine Energy Crisis - Remedies

Remedies

In order to diminish the impact of the crisis, three measures were suggested: buying natural gas from Bolivia, which has abundant reserves of it; directly buying electricity from Brazil, which generates a large part of it using hydroelectric power plants; and importing oil from Venezuela.

For historical reasons, Bolivia would not sell natural gas to Chile. Moreover, it lacks the infrastructure to convey it. A projected gas pipeline that would transport massive amounts of gas to Argentina was delayed by the critical political situation in Bolivia during 2003. Moreover, some people and organizations in Bolivia have expressed strong disagreement about the idea of exporting gas, calling the energy crisis "a fiction".

The Venezuelan Chávez administration, which is politically close to the Argentine government, signed energy accords that including sending fuel oil tankers to Argentina at reduced costs, through PDVSA (the Venezuelan state oil company). Fuel oil (imported or otherwise) is, in any case, considerably more expensive than natural gas.

In addition to industrial supply, Argentina employs Compressed Natural Gas for stoves, ovens, etc., and as fuel for over 1.4 million natural gas vehicles. While the possibility of restricting domestic usage was considered, it was deemed unnecessary and disruptive.

Argentina's lack of energy independence due to the full privatization of the fossil fuel market into an oligopoly was noted as a major cause of the crisis. The national government reacted by creating a new oil company, Enarsa, with 53% of state control and full exploitation rights over offshore areas.