In 2012, the government of Argentina expropriated 51% of the shares of the oil company YPF belonging to the spanish corporation Repsol. The measure, according to the government of then President Cristina Fernández, sought to resume State control over the oil and gas company as a way to guarantee the country’s energy self-sufficiency. Months earlier, Repsol had discovered enormous reserves of shale gas and oil in Vaca Muerta, which would now be exploited by the State. However, the reaction of the international community and potential new investors in light of the discriminatory nature of the expropriation obstructed the arrival of fresh capital. Given Argentina’s own lack of resources and technology to exploit Vaca Muerta, the government reverted new controls on foreign investment, paid compensations due from earlier arbitral judgments, agreed on compensation for Repsol bypassing its own legislation and offered generous concessions to seal a contract with U.S.-based Chevron Corporation to invest in the new fields.
Periodista y magíster en Estudios Internacionales de la Universidad de Chile. Docente del Instituto de la Comunicación e Imagen de la Universidad de Chile
Bonnefoy, P. (2016). Argentina: the expropriation of Repsol-YPF. Estudios Internacionales, 48(184), 39–73. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-3769.2016.42567
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