Cold snap in Argentina disrupts gas supplies

BUENOS AIRES, May 16 (Reuters) - A severe cold snap in Argentina has forced gas suppliers to hit the breaks on fuel distribution to gas stations and industries around the country, companies said, limiting supply to those on contracts which allow them to be cut in such circumstances.

Half of the customers of Camuzzi Gas Pampeana, which supplies 269 gas stations in the provinces of Buenos Aires and La Pampa, has been affected, spokesperson Rodrigo Espinosa told Reuters.

"The main objective is to give priority to the gas available in the main pipelines to the priority demand: homes, businesses, hospitals, government agencies, schools."

Some 1.5 million vehicles nationwide, including public transport, taxis and cars, are using compressed natural gas (CNG) because it is cheaper than other fuels, Camuzzi said.

Espinosa noted the disruption was not due to gas shortages but to sudden low temperatures that caused gas demand to double on Monday compared to same day last year.

MetroGas, the country's largest natural gas distributor with 2.4 million customers, including gas stations and industries, said the cut was partial and regulations prevented residential customers from being cut off except in a national emergency.

"This means that when demand is higher than usual, the least urgent customers are cut off first: CNG and industries," the company said, adding such weather-based cuts tend to normalize quickly.

"This time it happened because it was the first cold snap and there was a lot of demand," it said. "For the rest of the (southern) winter, there would need to be a string of very cold days for this to happen again. Last winter it happened twice."

Argentina is seeking to become a key global energy supplier by harnessing exports from its massive Vaca Muerta shale formation. It is working on reversing its northern pipeline to ship gas to northern provinces, Brazil and beyond.

(Reporting by Eliana Raszewski; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Richard Chang)