Argentina's plan to takeover YPF angers Spain

Irish Sun Tuesday 17th April, 2012

• Argentina president's plan to nationalize assets of Repsol's YPF upsets Spain, EU

• Nationalisation move comes in wake of falling oil and gas production in YPF assets in Argentina

• Spain warns of consequences in diplomatic field, the industrial field, and on energy front over the next few weeks

MADRID - Spain Tuesday threatened to take swift economic retaliation against Argentina after it announced plans to take control of YPF, in which Spanish oil giant Repsol is the majority shareholder.

Repsol had acquired majority stake in YPF, a former Argentine state-owned company, in the 1998.

Vowing to take all "legal measures as appropriate, to preserve the value of its assets and interests of all shareholders", Repsol Chairman Antonio Brufau has demanded $10.5 billion in compensation from Argentina for the proposed plan to seize assets of its oil and gas unit YPF SA.

At a press conference, the company announced that the measure proposed by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is manifestly unlawful and seriously discriminatory.

Repsol said YPF was worth $18-billion as a whole and its compensation demand was commensurate with the value. The oil company's shares fell as much as 9 per cent Tuesday, the most since 2008.

"They are going to lead the country into chaos. A responsible country should plan based on reality and not how they would like things to be," Brufau said.

Authorities called in the Argentinian ambassador to express displeasure at the move by Argentina's assertive president which has alarmed many foreign governments and investors.

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