The main oil companies operating in Argentina agreed to keep fuel prices unchanged, thus joining the strategy activated by YPF to contain the impact of the international oil price escalation on gasoline and diesel. The measure, of national scope, began to take effect last Wednesday and will be maintained for at least 45 days, in a context of falling demand and strong volatility in the global energy market. According to what Argentina News Agency learned, the internal operations of the sector will take the value of March crude as a reference. In this way, although producers bill at the current international price, refiners will pay based on the previous value, and the difference will be recorded in a compensatory account to be settled later. The objective is to cushion the immediate pass-through of the barrel price increase to the final price paid by consumers at the pumps. The understanding involves various actors in the chain, including producers, refiners, and integrated companies, and will be reviewed once the initial period, scheduled for mid-May, is concluded. The decision came after weeks of pressure on gas stations: Reuters reported this Thursday that fuel prices in Argentina have accumulated a 15% increase since February, amid the international oil shock. In this context, the Government also decided to postpone the update of taxes on liquid fuels and carbon dioxide until May 1. The measure was formalized through Decree 217/2026, published in the Official Bulletin, with the argument of sustaining economic growth within a sustainable fiscal path and avoiding additional pressure on prices. With this double move, one from the private sector and another from the tax front, the market seeks to gain predictability in the short term and avoid a new jump in a sector with a strong impact on inflation and consumption.
