Argentina's Senate passes oil, gas control to provinces

摘要

Buenos Aires-Argentina's Senate late November 22 approved 53-1 a bill designed to shift control of oil and natural gas resources to the provinces from the nation, including some offshore acreage, an upper house spokesman said November 23. The government-backed bill now goes to the lower house for review, he said. The bill proposes modifying the existing 1967 federal hydrocarbons law to bring it in line with a constitutional reform of 1994 that transferred control of natural resources to the provinces. It would enable provincial governments to set royalties and other taxes, as well as to negotiate the extension of concessions and cancel them in the case of any lack of investment.