MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spain’s Repsol files complaint against Argentina over seizure of YPF

CEO Brufau was honoured by the industry as 2012 “Chief Executive Officer”

Spain's Repsol SA filed on Monday a complaint against Argentina before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) over its nationalization of energy company YPF SA, according to sources familiar with the dispute.

Last May the Argentine government seized 51% of YPF, the country's biggest oil and gas company from Repsol, accusing the former parent company of underproduction and under-investment.

In its complaint, Repsol calls the seizure unlawful and discriminatory, according to a source who asked not to be named and who had seen a copy of the document submitted to the ICSID.

The Spanish oil major denied Argentina's charge that it neglected to invest in YPF. The takeover also sparked protests against Argentina from the European Union and other trade partners. Repsol says the 51% of YPF expropriated by the government is worth 10 billion dollars.

In related news the Platts Global Energy Awards recognized Repsol’s CEO Antonio Brufau who received the 2012 “Chief Executive Officer” honour at a special ceremony in New York. The awards program, now in its 14th year, is one of the energy industry's premier recognition events and often referred to as the “Oscars” of the energy industry.

CEO Brufau won accolades for “shepherding Repsol's growth in upstream exploration activities, expanding the company into wind power and overseeing a stock boon that has outpaced its European rivals, it was his leadership of the last seven months, judges said, that really set him apart”.

The Platts Global Energy Award underlined that “within weeks of the Argentine government's sudden expropriation of Repsol subsidiary Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF), Brufau set a course that kept Repsol from potential dismantlement, retained its standing with investors, and positioned it for high-growth”.