Natural gas production in Argentina fell by 12.9% year/year in October to 121.9 million cubic meters/day (MMm3/d), or 4.3 Bcf/d, according to the latest report by the IAE Argentine Energy Institute.

Production was down from 4.37 Bcf/d in September. 

Analysts attributed the drop to restrictions in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. Argentina has had one of the strictest lockdowns in place globally since the pandemic began to spread in March. 

In November, executives at Argentina’s state energy firm Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales SA (YPF) said their oil and gas fields were starting to return to work after the complete shutdown in April that became “the worst” month in the company’s history.

YPF shale production in the Vaca Muerta formation has returned to...