YPF the oil company seized by Argentina’s government last year has lost an arbitration case with a Brazilian company that may cost as much as 1.6 billion dollars in indemnity payments. There was an immediate reaction and YPF shares lost the most among Argentina’s major stocks, 3.6%.
Spain’s Foreign Affairs Minister José Manuel García Margallo said the Spanish government is no longer “discussing” Argentina’s “sovereign decision to seek energy sectors’ control.” “It could seem to me a mistake, but it is the responsibility” of the Argentine government, García Margallo stated.
Spains’s Repsol SA said on Thursday its first-quarter profit jumped 38% on the year, mainly due to higher production and refining margins.
Argentine nationalized energy company YPF warned on Tuesday that inflation in the country may keep rising and affect its results, a rare admission considering the company is controlled by a government known for playing down the problem.
Almost four million barrels of diesel and gasoline were shipped from Europe and the US to Argentina where a recent major fire in the country’s main refinery significantly diminished the supply of refined produce. The situation could extend for another two years, according to private estimates from the oil industry.
Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández takeover of YPF to pare energy imports is backfiring and threatening to narrow the country’s trade surplus needed to pay debt, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Argentina’s state oil and gas company YPF CEO Miguel Galuccio announced that fuel production could drop 7% because of a fire at its refinery in La Plata. A return to full operations at the 180.000 bpd facility is expected in 30-45 days time.
Brazil’s oil and gas Petrobras said Argentina needs clear rules to foster investments if it wants to develop its unconventional oil and gas resources.
Argentina’s nationalized energy company YPF on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with the local subsidiary of the US Dow Chemical to develop the shale gas deposits in the southern Nequen province.
Argentina’s energy self-sufficiency can be expected in five to six years said Miguel Galuccio, CEO of YPF, the oil and gas corporation which was nationalized a year ago when the government of President Cristina Fernandez seized a 51% majority from Spain’s Repsol.