On July 25, 2025, the Milei administration officially began the privatization process of Energía Argentina SA (Enarsa), marking a significant rollback of state control over the country’s strategic energy sector.

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In a decisive step validating the neoliberal agenda, the government of Argentine President Javier Milei officially kicked off the privatization of Energía Argentina SA (Enarsa), the state-owned energy giant created to defend Argentina’s energy sovereignty.

Published via Resolution 1050/2025 in the Official Gazette on July 25, the process targets the sale of 100 percent of Enarsa shares in Citelec SA, the controlling company of Transener, responsible for transmitting electricity nationwide.

This move follows closely on the heels of the dismantling of the Belgrano Cargas state railway, underscoring a systemic pattern of relinquishing public assets to private interests.

The privatization is scheduled to conclude within eight months through a national and international tender coordinated by the Agency for the Transformation of Public Enterprises with valuation assistance from a public banking institution.

While the government frames this as a cost-cutting measure, citing “multimillion-dollar transfers” to Enarsa with insufficient returns, left-wing analysts contend that these arguments mask the real intent: advancing IMF-aligned austerity and dismantling state capacity over critical sectors.

Born from the political will of the Kirchner administration in 2004, Enarsa emerged as a backbone for state intervention in energy infrastructure and policy, managing projects vital to national development and energy independence.

Its assets include major initiatives like the Perito Moreno Gas Pipeline (initially named after Néstor Kirchner), the Santa Cruz dams, the Northeast Argentinian Gas Pipeline, a 50 percent stake in the Escobar LNG terminal shared with YPF, and controlling interests in the Manuel Belgrano and José de San Martín thermal plants. The company’s function has been to guarantee strategic control over energy production and distribution, ensuring public ownership in a sector often targeted by foreign monopolies.

Privatizing Enarsa not only jeopardizes service quality and long-term planning but represents a grave betrayal of the social and economic gains secured through grassroots mobilizations and state-led industrial policy in recent decades.

Dimos un paso más en la privatización de ENARSA con el inicio del proceso para la venta de sus acciones en Citelec, controlante de Transener.

Así, seguimos trabajando para que el Estado abandone el rol empresario y la energía vuelva a crecer con el impulso del sector privado. pic.twitter.com/fze9kohUcN

— Secretaría de Energía (@Energia_Ar) July 25, 2025

The text reads: We took another step in the privatization of ENARSA with the start of the process for the sale of its shares in Citelec, the controlling company of Transener.

Thus, we continue working for the State to abandon its entrepreneurial role and for energy to grow again with the drive of the private sector.

They highlight that relinquishing critical infrastructure to transnational capital fragments coordinated energy policy and undermines national sovereignty amid growing global resource competition.

The privatization of Enarsa must be understood within the broader context of the Milei government’s aggressive neoliberal orientation, which includes dismantling public enterprises, reducing social spending, and prioritizing private capital over collective welfare. This new offensive deepens the neoliberal model imposed on Latin America during the 1990s and early 2000s, which left unequal development and social dislocation in its wake.

As the privatization process advances, vigilant public scrutiny and mobilization remain crucial to contesting the liquidation of Argentina’s productive capacities and the loss of a model of state-led development that prioritizes the people’s needs over profit.

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