Finance Commission approves fuel bill, on the condition that natural gas laws are passed

VALPARAÍSO.- On the condition that the Executive Branch will send a law proposal to Parliament within a period of no more than 60 days to resolve the natural gas subsidy issue, the Finance Commission has passed a bill to inject one billion U.S. dollars into the Fuel Stabilization Fund on to the next processing phase.

According to the Upper House, Senators Eduardo Frei, José Garcia, Camilo Escalona and Carlos Ominami voted in favor of the idea to legislate, while Senator Evelyn Matthei abstained.  Nevertheless, during the individual voting session, Senator Matthei voted against the extraordinary contribution of funds to the Empresa Nacional del Petróleo (ENAP) for a sum of $250 million U.S. dollars.

The initiative, which includes liquid gas in the fund and increases the subsidy for paraffin by 50%, will be voted on this afternoon at the Senate.

Senator Matthei justified her vote against the extraordinary capital contribution to ENAP by saying, “right now the Treasury owes ENAP a debt of approximately $350 million U.S. dollars”.