BINATIONAL TIES IN THE ENERGY TERRITORIES OF NORTHERN PATAGONIA: RUPTURES AND SYNERGIES

Abstract

This article analyzes the northern Patagonian energy territories in Argentina and Chile, exploring their configurations and ruptures in a context of extractivist expansion and geopolitical reconfiguration. The territories are conceived as socio-spatial constructions influenced by power networks, both local and transnational. The study aims to understand how regulatory frameworks and delocalized actors condition binational energy policies and the challenges they face.

From a qualitative and exploratory methodology, secondary sources such as official documents, legislation and press articles are combined with interviews to key informants -officials, technicians and academics- from Neuquén, Río Negro and the Chilean regions of Biobío, La Araucanía and Los Lagos. Thematic mapping tools and choremas are incorporated to represent spatial links and tensions.

The results show three different contexts. Argentina promotes the exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons for export purposes; Chile advances in the energy transition towards renewable sources to supply its domestic demand. In spite of their divergent trajectories, both countries maintain energy links that allow us to think of a binational cooperation of complementarity.