MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
With dwindling oil production Argentina floats idea of re-nationalizing YPF
YPF SA shares fell the most in 20 months after newspaper Pagina/12 said Argentine officials discussed a takeover of the country’s biggest oil producer, following a controversy with the oil industry over alleged fuel-price fixing and lack of investment which doubled the country’s fuel imports bill to 9.4 billion dollars in 2011. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesAs I predicted earlier in the week, nationalize the oil/gas industry. It was the logical next step. Next will be The Farms. Chavez made the path CFK will follow it. I wonder if Arg will start starving like the Venezuelans? Only a very bad government could take a country rich in natural resources and have their people starving. I don't know who are more dumb Socialist South Americans or North Koreans. Pretty much a toss up in my book.
Jan 31st, 2012 - 12:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@1
Jan 31st, 2012 - 02:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It has to be the Argentinos, don't forget that they voted for it! And now they are going to get it big time.
N. Korea is a communist state and the people have no option but to back the 'Dear Leader'. Poor devils.
Many people would say that the greatest/optimum efficiency and production comes from the public-private partnership. But what shareholders would trust their life-investment to the vagaries of the CFK government 'policies'.
Jan 31st, 2012 - 02:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0No, it would have to be full nationalisation - with all the sub-optimal practices that accompany it. Kiss of Death.
Well they have done such a great job with Aerolinas Argentina I am sure they can build off of their experience there...hahahaha
Jan 31st, 2012 - 04:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@4
Jan 31st, 2012 - 06:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes, but do you remember where the people running Aerolinas Argentina came from?
La Campora! Fat Boy and his mates stitched that one up. It is really hard for even experienced airline operators to break even nowadays, this bunch of rich kid wasters have got no hope.
Amusing how foreigners from a selection of countries are collectively belittling the people in Argentina, calling them all sorts of epithets and names such as ignorant, uneducated, blighted. Then they congratulate each other and reinforce the prior comment to enhance its purported factuality, acting like a veritable claque.
Jan 31st, 2012 - 06:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Surely use of such manifestly crass language furthers their implied argument of how their nationality's citizenry are so much more literate, diplomatic, than the benighted Argies.
The funny thing is, I would tend to concur with them (the CFK government is happlessly brainless), but their slash-and-burn animadversions underwhelm those of us with the capacity to read between the lines.
Nationalization of the oil companies will come followed perhaps by expropriation of the farm holdings of foreigners. It will get worse and wosre with the perennial re-election of CFK./Then fat boy Maximo will take over. Watch out, the fat boy is particularly evil. One can only hope that the military pulls a coup de etat like PInochet.
Jan 31st, 2012 - 07:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0CFK couldn’t get a farming tax through when half the country (including the urban citizen with no apparent connection to the Pampa), made their opposition to the legislation so clear, her own vice-president became the deciding vote in the senate that killed it. All of those events at the height of her popularity.
Jan 31st, 2012 - 08:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You people purposely conflate two discrete industries: oil companies and the farmers. The former is a cartel despised not only in Argentina, but around the world (justly or not). And while I do not agree with any talk of nationalization, it is understandable WHY people would not rise up to protect these corporations.
Should CFK attempt to expropriate one farm (it will never happen anyhow), her government is over.
Expropriation of the farms of foreigners would be palatable or perhaps a punitive tax on foreigners for the sake of “fairness”. This kind of stuff tends to pass the muster of Socialists. Envy is the baseset of the human emotions.
Jan 31st, 2012 - 09:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The Peronists are not true socialists. The fact you are not cognizant of this makes it difficult for you to have authoritative command of accurate or penetrating commentary on Argentine internal politics.
Jan 31st, 2012 - 10:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0They use “social justice” as a central tactical element in order to retain the fervent support of the necessitous segements of society. Peronists are clientelists—what in other parts of the world would be called “the political machine”.
Deep down they are members of the patriciate; they utilize any political philosophy in vogue as a facade to ingratiate themselves with the poor. They are in fact elitists and hold major, inextricable dealings and associations with “foreign” elements. Sure, they may turn on some of these foreign elements if their political positions and sinecures hang in the balance, but otherwise consort with them as a matter of course.
In the last 30 years the Peronists have been communists, neo-liberals, nationalists, and now populists. Peronism, the political entity, is not an ideological school... It is a political industry.
There was an article saying that this nationalization threat was a way to put a shot across the bow of YPF to reduce or suspend its dividend payment this year because it will mess up the U$ reserves.
Feb 01st, 2012 - 01:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0CFK is in panic mode this balance of trade issue must be much worse than they are saying.
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