Publications
History of Gas in Argentina
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Cleaning of a gas street-lamp, at the beginning of the century, in a Buenos Aires downtown street. |
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Retiro power plant, around 1905; on the left, the old and modest Argentine Railway Station (later, Mitre). |
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On the 175th anniversary of the inauguration in Buenos Aires of the Latin American Age of Gas, Transportadora de Gas del Sur S.A. (TGS), published "History of Gas in Argentina. 1823 - 1998", the first full study on this issue in our country.
Starting with the experimentation made by British engineer James Bevans with gas street lighting for the celebrations of May 25th, 1823, the book keeps a record of "the vast and decisive process (...) of gas services", in Argentina, as Eduardo M. Ojea Quintana, our former CEO, wrote.
Thus, we go through "one hundred and seventy five years of struggle and efforts, sacrifices and resignations, success and obstacles, in the pursuit of the welfare and progress of Argentine people - Ojea Quintana adds -; Since 1992 we have undertaken the same objectives to carry on with this epic struggle we have inherited."
Following the 1823 experiment, the book comprises the main stages in the development of gas services, together with an overall picture of the history of our country. The first stage started in 1856, with the establishment of massive use of gas lighting in Buenos Aires streets and houses, with the foundation of the gas factory and gasometer on Del Libertador Avenue between San Martín and Ramos Mejía, where the Argentine Air Force Square is located today.
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See the gas lamp on the left side of the Riachuelo- future Pedro de Mendoza Avenue, in the late 19th century. |
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A corner of downtown Buenos Aires, in the late 19th century: a water-seller passes by a gas lamp. |
A year later, the Colón Theater -then located opposite the Plaza de Mayo- presented an emblem of the use of gas with its 450 lights chandelier. Meanwhile, debtors were beginning to appear; they were summoned to pay or the "service pipes would be cut". In 1859, there were 1,454 gas street lamps and 11,043 home lights; twenty years later, in 1879, there were 2,798 and 122,000 respectively.
More companies were founded in Buenos Aires, a city that would soon lose its exclusivity in the use of gas for lighting. In 1870, gas services started operations in Rosario; in 1874, they started in Belgrano and in 1876 in Flores, two independent counties in Buenos Aires, which they would join in 1887. Córdoba started gas services in 1884, La Plata in 1888, Mendoza in 1889 and Paraná in 1890. At the end of the century, electricity grew in power and in 1920 gas gave way to electricity for lighting purposes.
Thus, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the second stage in gas history was inaugurated, with the appearance of new uses for gas. Gas was then used to cook, heat water, provide heating and to power machines, including those used for the generation of electricity. In Buenos Aires, in order to increase its amount of customers, the Primitive Gas Company - settled down in 1910 by the merger of three companies in the sector - started a cooking lessons program, that would bring fame to Petrona Carrizo de Gandulfo.
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Another view of the Retiro gas factory, before the reconstruction of Puerto Madero, started in 1887; at the back, the Río de la Plata. |
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"Caras y Caretas" Magazine, 1910 |
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"Plus Ultra" Magazine, 1928 |
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Advertising became then a powerful instrument both for the Primitive Gas Company and businesses related to gas services, as it can be seen in the ads included in the book, among which, we can find the ad for the first stove in Argentina, dated 1934.
The third stage started in 1945, with the progressive transfer of gas services throughout the country to State hands. Natural gas supply (Supergas, manufactured by YPF) started in 1933, but its use would be widespread later in 1960. In this sense, the construction of gas pipelines resulted pivotal: the first pipeline, Comodoro Rivadavia - Buenos Aires, was installed in 1949; the latest, Neuba II, Loma de La Lata - Gutiérrez), in 1988. Over a span of four decades, the cylindrical steel routes spread over our country from north to south, totalling 21.728 km, with 50.401 km of network system.
The fourth and last stage is rather recent, and started in 1992, when Gas del Estado was privatized and divided into eight distribution and two transmission companies. One of them, TGS, started operations on December 28 of that year.