Self-service fuel pumps nationwide

What changed

Self-service (self-dispensing) of liquid fuels is authorized nationwide as an optional modality, at the retailer's choice, total or partial. Decree 46/2025 (art. 2) removed from the 1983 safety code the prohibition on non-station personnel operating the pumps, and also authorized above-ground storage tanks, mobile service stations and relaxed the minimum dimensions of the installations. Resolution (SE) 147/2025 regulated the authorization procedure, the safety conditions and the audit certificate, defining the modalities (exclusive, combined simultaneous and alternating). The full, simplified authorization is in force since April 2025; between January and April 2025 it operated transitionally with case-by-case authorization before the Secretariat. verif · Jan 28, 2025 ↗

In force

Decree 46/2025 published in the Official Gazette on 01/29/2025 (transitional operation). Full and simplified authorization since Resolution (SE) 147/2025, published in the Official Gazette on 04/08/2025. verif · Apr 8, 2025 ↗

Who it affects

Liquid-fuel retailers and service stations nationwide (adoption is optional); fuel retail chains, dispensing-point operators and pump suppliers. It also affects sector workers (pump attendants) and final consumers. verif · Jan 28, 2025 ↗

The norm

Decreto 46/2025 (DECTO-2025-46-APN-PTE), signed on Jan 28, 2025 by Milei, Francos and Caputo, authorizes self-service fuelling and delegates the rulemaking to the Secretaría de Energía (60-day deadline); implemented by Resolución 147/2025 of the Secretaría de Energía of the Ministry of Economy (RESOL-2025-147-APN-SE#MEC), signed on Apr 3, 2025 by María Carmen Tettamanti. verif · Jan 28, 2025 ↗

Our reading

More management freedom for the station: self-service is optional and leaves the retailer to decide how to operate (R4, deregulation). It enables 24 hours, lowers operating costs and opens room for lower prices for the consumer, in line with a more competitive fuel market. What would break it: union resistance in the sector or provincial/municipal safety rules that limit adoption in practice. thesis

Where it lands, province by province3

Neuquén Decree 46/2025 does more than allow self-service: it also legalises above-ground storage tanks, mobile service stations and flexible minimum dimensions. That is fuel supply infrastructure at the wellsite, exactly where the basin needs it — 37 drilling rigs, 13 frac spreads and a sand fleet currently supplied far from the nearest pump. favorable cheaper to meet the demand thesis

Río Negro Fuel was the third-largest local purchase category in the Punta Colorada package in Q1-2026. The demand is a fleet working at night on empty roads, and the pumps sit in small towns where staffing an attendant per shift does not pay. Optional self-service is what makes opening 24 hours viable in Sierra Grande, Valcheta or San Antonio Oeste. favorable cheaper to meet the demand thesis

Catamarca Decree 46/2025 does more than allow self-service: it authorises above-ground storage tanks, mobile service stations and flexible minimum dimensions for installations. In Catamarca the 345 kV line and the pipeline to the puna are agreed and not a metre has been built, so the ceiling on the salt flat's works is diesel, in a district of 28,108 km² with 2,022 inhabitants. favorable cheaper to meet the demand thesis

Fuel self-service nationwide

What changed and who it applies to

Our reading

Where it lands, province by province3

The other rules on this subject36

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