Oil production in Argentina has dropped by a third to 570,000 b/d this year from a record 847,000 b/d in 1998, while gas output has slumped 16% to 120 million cubic meters per day from a peak of 143.1 MMcm/d in 2004. Companies have complained that price caps, tax hikes, shaky regulations and rising state intervention have cut profit potential and made it harder to do business. These concerns have been reinforced by government plans to control the sector more closely. The government issued a decree in late July creating a commission of national authorities to monitor the oil and gas sector.
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