For the past several winters, Argentina's government has rationed natural gas to manufacturers of cooking oil, auto-parts, and cement in the north of the country.<br /><br />The measure is meant to keep gas flowing to households during particularly cold stretches of the winter.<br /><br />'Price trajectory' is a delicate way of saying that prices must rise for households in the densely populated capital region of Beunos Aries.<br /><br />Gas bills have been heavily subsidized there since the economic crisis ten years ago. Upper-income households pay as little as $15 a month for heat in the winter.<br /><br />With presidential elections coming later this year, that is unlikely to change soon. The government is insisting that new demand from previously unconnected households is causing the energy crunch.<br /><br />Al Jazeera's correspondent, Craig Mauro, reports from Cordoba.
