Liberalization of the Gas Sector in Latin America: The Experience of Three Countries

This paper is devoted to examining the scope, outcomes and shortcomings of reforms aimed at introducing competition in the production, transport, distribution and retail segments of the gas industry. The experiences of Argentina, Colombia and Mexico are used as examples. The paper includes the following sections: 1) Introduction; 2) Features of a monopolistic model; 3) Analysis of a model with competition at each sector segment; 4) Comparison of different structures of wholesale gas markets; 5) Transportation issues; 6) Distribution and retail competition schemes; 7) Regulatory issues; 8) Lessons learned. A description of the main features of the gas sector in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia is presented in Annexes 1, 2 and 3.