The demand for oil-sector employment has returned to the center of Santa Cruz's agenda. National Senator Natalia Gadano backed the position of the Oil, Private Gas and Renewable Energy Workers' Union, which is asking Pan American Energy to prioritize local hiring in the operations it carries out within Santa Cruz territory.
The point of conflict lies in the Santa Cruz section of Cerro Dragón, one of the country's most important hydrocarbon fields. The area extends across Chubut and Santa Cruz, but the claim focuses on ensuring that activity conducted on Santa Cruz soil translates directly into jobs for residents of the province.
The discussion is grounded in Provincial Law 90/10, which promotes the hiring of local workers in productive activity. For Gadano, effective enforcement would open employment opportunities for Santa Cruz families and correct a situation in which, according to the union's position, part of the work is being carried out by staff and companies based outside the province.
The disputed area produces approximately 1,300 cubic meters of oil per day and has more than 450 wells in operation. That productive weight reinforces the political demand: if Santa Cruz contributes resources, output and wealth, extraction should also leave jobs, income and development in the communities where those resources are taken from.
The issue emerges at a sensitive moment for the provincial oil labor market, shaped by YPF's exit from mature areas and the need to preserve jobs in the basin. In that context, the debate over suppliers, contractors and workers' residence becomes a strategic matter for the regional economy.
Gadano framed the demand as a defense of Santa Cruz labor rather than a dispute with Chubut. The distinction matters: the debate is not limited to the administrative border of a shared field, but to how the social benefits of an activity that remains central to Santa Cruz's economic structure are distributed.
The demand directed at PAE raises a deeper question for the province: who captures the labor value of its natural resources. The answer will depend on the ability of the state, unions and companies to turn existing rules into actual hiring, local training and stable opportunities in oil-producing areas.
