Argentine natural gas production will average 107 million cubic meters per day in 2017, 3 percent more than the year before, Energy Minister Jose Aranguren told reporters on Wednesday. According to the government, average gas production was 104 million cubic meters per day in 2016. Data from the Argentine Petroleum and Gas Institute (IAPG) said gross gas production in 2016 was 123 million cubic meters per day on average.
"It (production) has been falling due to a series of messes from the past, and the reality is that international prices also fell," Aranguren said, without elaborating. "The most important thing to recover is natural gas, because we are net importers of natural gas. We import 25 percent of what we use," Aranguren added, promising a gradual recovery over the months ahead. "It is going to recover little by little. I have no doubt. An inflection has already occurred, and we are increasing," the minister added.
Aranguren said that in four years he expects the country will reduce its gas imports by half, thanks to expected development of Argentina's vast but mostly untapped Vaca Muerta shale oil and gas formation in Patagonia.