The government regulated the operation of the Foreign Exchange Access Regime for Incremental Oil Production (Radpip) as well as a similar promotion scheme for gas, official sources reported, through decree 484/2022, which was published this Tuesday in the Official Gazette.
Both the oil promotion regime and the one referring to natural gas had been created by decree 277/22which established “a new appropriate regulatory framework so that hydrocarbon producers have rules of access to the necessary foreign currency to promote investment in the sector”, although its regulation was missingwhich was solved with decree 484.
According to article 1 of the new regulations, the beneficiaries of access to foreign currency to increase production may appear together with possible associated third parties that comply with the requirements of the decree, including proving a contractual relationship with the beneficiary “of at least 12 months , with a minimum investment of US$50 million”.
Those who fall under the brand-new foreign exchange availability regime to increase oil and gas production “may request recognition of the corresponding benefits as of the third quarter of 2022, after meeting the requirements and within the terms established by the Ministry of Energy”, adds decree 484 in its article 2.
To comply with this step, “they must request it within the peremptory period of 15 business days and after the end of each quarter”, in a management that will include complementary measures of Energy and the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP). Once the request is accepted, “Energy will issue a certificate that will be notified by note to the beneficiaries, the AFIP and the Central Bank (BCRA)”.
The oil and natural gas producing companies that access the special foreign currency availability regimes will have to submit information as an affidavitTherefore, “in the event of omission, falsity or inconsistency, the provisions of Article 29 of Decree 277/22 will apply” and, in parallel, “Energy may suspend the benefit or automatically deduct from future benefits the certificates issued with falsified or omitted data”.
In the rest of the 28 articles of Decree 484, the technical parameters are established to define what will be the Base Line corresponding to the Registry of Access to Foreign Currency for Incremental Oil Production, such as the production of crude oil from January to December 2021 that comes from of areas owned by each beneficiary that have been officially recognized by Energy.
