Alejandro Basso
Management
Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today on this conference call to discuss the 2020's fourth quarter earnings and highlights for Transportadora de Gas del Sur. To begin the call today, I would like to share with you some relevant events that occurred since our last quarterly earnings call in November of 2020. Firstly, addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, as you may be aware, the situation in Argentina has been improving, due mainly to the factor that we are going through the summer season, the number of cases reported have lowered in general. Thus, many restrictions were lifted mainly during the last months of 2020, and the Argentine economy partially recovered after the collapse experienced in the second quarter, which, on an annual basis, contracted by 10% and is expected to rebound of more than 4% for 2021 based on the assumption that massive vaccination program will succeed in reducing the COVID-19 reported case. Moving on to address the tariff adjustments. Last December, the Argentine government issued a decree number 1020 which established. First, the start of integral tariff revision with a 2-year deadline. Second, suspension of the current integrating revision agreement, which was signed in 2017. And in third place, the authorization for gas to transitionally adjust tariffs while the integral tariff revision takes place. After the transitional tariff adjustment, the Secretary of Energy, Simon, a public hearing to be held on March 15 to define the subsidy that the government will pay the gas producers under the new gas plant, which was launched in October 2020 as well as the price portion difference to be paid by the consumers. In addition, ENARGAS called to a public hearing to be held on March 16 to establish tariff increases for the distribution and transportation companies. The tariff adjustments will be defined after the public hearings. What is worth noting for this fourth quarter is the recognition of ARS 3.1 billion in impairment of the natural gas transportation assets accounting value. Considering that this accounting value is being adjusted by inflation and the tariff remained without an increase in April 2019, accumulating a 35% increase, which has not been planted by ENARGAS , changing into account the semi-annual tariff adjustment contemplated in the interactivity agreement signed in 2017. In addition, the uncertainty of future tariff increase, coupled with expected high inflation underline this impairment.