Argentina’s true debate

[MilHojas]

Miguel Pichetto: ‘Argentina’s true debate is between capitalism and ideologies glorifying poverty’

Former senator and vice-presidential candidate, who today serves as the nation’s auditor general, discusses Republican Peronism, the upcoming elections and “political discipline is essential.”

www.batimes.com.ar

 

[Dougie]

Fascinating how he can speak so many words without actually saying anything. Argentina should mine more is his grand idea. If Canada can do it, why not us. Nothing about infrastructure, physical, legal and financial to facilitate that. Oil and gas is his other big idea. A dying industry. Zero vision.

 

[sts7049]

oil and gas isnt dying anytime soon.

 

[jblaze5779]

Fascinating how he can speak so many words without actually saying anything.

Not very fascinating, it's a way of life here.

oil and gas for these developing countries we continue to play a key part for decades to come. They aren't going to skip straight to advanced energy methods and they will use the resources as an export to other developing nations to bring dollars. Argentina should absolutely focus on developing og and mining industries. Outside of BA there isn't even anyone within a 100 miles to care about a mine.

 

[Dougie]

Jblaze - I know you are an oil and gas expert. I agree it isn't going to die soon and plays an important part of economic development, but it isn't a growth industry.

Argentina's big successes are software companies and that's where the growth is. The dematerializing of the physical world. Mercado Libre, Auth0, Globant, crypto infrastructure and software.

Mining is another story, rare earth minerals will be in high demand for decades.

 

[jblaze5779]

I was just thinking of things these guys could do immediately to start digging themselves out of the hole. I'm thinking exporting energy instead of importing gas each winter would be a really good start.

I'm wondering how good these tech jobs will be in the end for Arg. A lot of the folks working in BA at these places are doing support tasks due to the low cost of the workforce. Args advantage is the low costs of an educated English speaking workforce. Exporting and energy jobs might help more folks overall.

Long term vision is not a strong point here with peoples day to day survival mentality. So I can't really blame them at this stage. The focus needs to be getting some breathing room whether it is long term or not.

 

[Ries]

one thing they will continue to mine- lithium, for batteries. But it would make more sense to cut a deal with the chinese to build a battery factory, in conjunction with the engineering school at UBA starting a battery research and development institute. Value added always beats raw materials exporting. If the chinese are willing to build battery factories in Hungary, Poland, Sweden, and Germany, then they would definitely build one right next to the lithium source, in Argentina. https://www.automotive-iq.com/electrics-electronics/articles/top-five-ev-battery-factories-in-europe

 

[Dougie]

I was just thinking of things these guys could do immediately to start digging themselves out of the hole. I'm thinking exporting energy instead of importing gas each winter would be a really good start.

I'm wondering how good these tech jobs will be in the end for Arg. A lot of the folks working in BA at these places are doing support tasks due to the low cost of the workforce. Args advantage is the low costs of an educated English speaking workforce. Exporting and energy jobs might help more folks overall.

Long term vision is not a strong point here with peoples day to day survival mentality. So I can't really blame them at this stage. The focus needs to be getting some breathing room whether it is long term or not.

All good points. There are a lot of talented developers in Argentina, in addition to the support call center type jobs.

Is Argentina making any improvements recently on the oil and gas front from what you see?

 

[jblaze5779]

All good points. There are a lot of talented developers in Argentina, in addition to the support call center type jobs.

Is Argentina making any improvements recently on the oil and gas front from what you see?

In reality, I don't think so. Og (esp uncon) is a slim margins volume game. It requires 24/7 operations, reliability, and good planning to be profitable. Most of these requirements aren't strong suits of the local environment. You also need to create efficiencies as ways to solve cost problems, through improvements in processes and competition among contractors. Once again, not strong suits.

Without going into too much detail I think the operators that are going full out on productiln have no other options on where to invest money. That's good for them though that they're staying busy. I am not really sure how they are making money though. Those international companies that have options elsewhere in the world are choosing to minimize activities here with only completing what is necessary to hold leases and fulfill agreements.

If the gov were serious about developing these export options they would allow labor/union reform, imports (new technologies and required project materials not available in the country), and protections for foreign investments. A few months ago the health workers basically shut down the entire Neuquén province for a total of 30 days. The government did nothing to secure the roads needed to conduct production activities. If that gives you an idea of how seriously the government takes this industry.