MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina-Chile relation “delicate”

Argentine president Nestor Kirchner rejected Wednesday evening the idea that his administration is not honouring natural gas agreements with Chile and suggested Chilean president Ricardo Lagos supply reduction claims be addressed to the oil corporations.

"It's not us who are selling natural gas to the sister republic of Chile, but the oil corporations", stressed Mr. Kirchner who underlined that "Argentina is not violating any treaty with Chile".

As bilateral tension with neighbouring Chile increases because of the severe restrictions in Argentine natural gas exports, which this week were increased, Mr. Kirchner insisted, "What the Chilean government must do, is demand oil corporations to honour what they promised".

In Chile Foreign Secretary Soledad Alvear described the situation as "delicate".

Mr. Kirchner's statement confirms the Argentine administration change of attitude which originally accepted it was a bilateral government issue but now has opted to limit the dispute saying it's a business relation between the Chilean government and Argentine based corporations.

Early in the day Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernández argued that the Chilean government "was confused", since the 1995 natural gas protocol between Argentina and Chile "is contrary to Argentine law and that is why it was never ratified by Congress". "Before selling gas to Chile, Argentine law states that firstly domestic demand must be supplied and this is not happening currently", said Mr. Fernández.

The top Kirchner administration official emphasized that the first priority for the Argentine government is to satisfy domestic demand, and if there's any surplus it can be exported.

"I believe there's much confusion in the Chilean government", said Mr. Fernández in response to harsh criticism from President Ricardo Lagos and Chilean opposition leaders complaining about Argentina's decision to drastically cut gas exports.

What Chile must understand is that it's not a lack of planning, at least from this administration, "but rather years of lack of investment in gas exploration, extraction and distribution", and even when there's responsibility "this can't be blamed on an administration that has been in office for eleven months".

However in Santiago Foreign Secretary Alvear insisted the situation has become "delicate, it confirms we have differences with Argentina regarding the enforcement of international rules". "When a country subscribes a protocol, that protocol prevails over domestic law: We were not surprised by Mr. Fernández words, he's simply publicly expressing what many Argentines had already pointed out", added Ms. Alvear.

Chilean Senate president Hernan Larrain said this "has become a political issue, a matter of state that involves the whole country", and described how Chile is addressing the issue.

Diplomatically, "we've presented several formal letters to the Argentine chancellery"; technically with the participation of the Ministry of Economy and thirdly, involving the business community that will be travelling to Buenos Aires and try to find a solution, plus the exact availability of Argentine natural gas, indicated Senator Larrain.

Ms. Alvear also revealed that Chile has been offered fuel by Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Algeria and Australia. "We are considering different alternatives", said Ms. Alvear.