Energía Argentina

Enarsa was founded on December 29, 2004, by an initiative of President Néstor Kirchner. The initiative had the political goal of reinserting the state in an oligopolistic market that was completely privatized during the Menem administration in the 1990s; these privatizations included the state oil firm YPF to the Spanish corporation Repsol, as well as its sister company, Gas del Estado, to eleven mainly foreign-owned firms.

The creation of Enarsa was a response to the energy crisis endured by Argentina in 2004, caused in part by lack of investment by private fossil fuel companies in infrastructure needed to meet the demand of natural gas. The price of natural gas, key to energy generation and transportation in Argentina, was frozen since 2002, while gasoline and diesel had increased their price sharply following the devaluation of the peso at the peak of the Argentine economic crisis.

Enarsa's main asset is the ownership of all rights of supervision and concessions of exploitation of offshore energy resources (i. e. all kinds of fossil fuels that are or may be found in the maritime platform). The Argentine national state owns 53% of the company; another 12% is shared by provincial governments, and the remaining 35% is traded in the stock market. Specialized in energy distribution, Enarsa remained a minor oil producer in Argentina, however, with 0.12% of the total; the firm required US$1.5 billion in subsidies in 2011.

The company's goals includes four principal areas of operations:

exploration and development of oil and gas reserves and the production of oil and gas;

marketing and transportation of oil, gas and oil products;