
Britain waited only a few minutes for Argentina to finish detailing a barrage of legal and administrative threats against anybody and everybody involved in the Falklands oil industry, and firmly stated its full support to the Islanders development of their hydrocarbons resources.

The governments of the Patagonian provinces of Chubut and Santa Cruz announced the termination of the contract of exploitation of four different oil wells that YPF handles in the Gulf San Jorge and that both provinces share. Spain’s Repsol, the oil giant that controls YPF has announced it will file a lawsuit against the measure.

Argentine Patagonia Chubut province could move to revoke oil and gas concessions held by Spain’s Repsol controlled oil and gas giant YPF SA as soon as Wednesday, a provincial official said Monday.

The relationship between the Argentine Government and the Spanish Repsol-YPF oil company continues to strain in spite of recent announcements and contacts to try and cool the situation.

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez is scheduled to travel to Chile next week to meet with her peer Sebastian Piñera and the Falklands issue expected to outstand in the bilateral agenda, particularly air links with the Islands.

Premier Wen Jiabao said China would strengthen its military's capabilities to win “local wars under information-age conditions”, even as the government announced a steep 11.5% rise in domestic security spending to ensure stability ahead of a leadership transition.

Spain and Argentina formed a working group to resolve their “differences” over YPF, the Argentine oil company majority-owned by Madrid-based Repsol-YPF, Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria said.

The government of President Cristina Fernandez is preparing the legal framework to take control of Spain’s Repsol-YPF subsidiary in Argentina which it has accused of not investing sufficiently and has triggered a round of discussions with the Spanish corporation’s top official, reports the Buenos Aires media.

Brazil is eager to finalize a free trade agreement between the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and the Mercosur bloc but believes the petrochemicals sector will be exempted until further study after the signing, said Brazilian Trade and Industry Minister Fernando Pimentel.

Foreign Affairs minister Jose Manuel García-Margallo assured that the Spanish government “is doing what must be done” to defend the interests of Spanish companies in Argentina, but has avoided releasing details.