Southern Cone gas and power short term outlook: August 2020

In mid-August, a massive cold wave hit the region, increasing both natural gas and electricity consumption for heating purposes. Argentina relied on a mix of electricity and LNG imports, and liquid-fired generation to fill the gap of its lower natural gas production. To avoid future supply disruptions, the country also hosted an additional tender to procure three LNG cargoes for September. August has been busy on the regulatory side. In Argentina, the Hydrocarbons Secretary released draft plans to recontract natural gas for LDCs and the power sector, recovering E&P investments and, consequently, production. In Brazil, the congress approved a bill to end the controversy about GSF, bringing back liquidity to the electricity spot market; the new gas law acquired priority status and will be voted on soon. As we have recently published both Argentina and Brazil long-term outlooks, this month we will release our short-term outlook only in excel format.