BUENOS AIRES, May 13 (Reuters) – The governor of Argentina’s
Santa Cruz province signed a decree that key oil fields stripped
from energy company YPF should be returned now that it is no
longer controlled by Spain’s Repsol, local media
reported on Sunday.
The restitution, signed on Saturday, still needs the green
light from the province’s legislature, media reports said,
citing a press statement from the government of the Patagonian,
oil-rich Santa Cruz province.
The Argentine Congress approved the nationalization of 51
percent of YPF shares earlier this month, angering the
country’s biggest trade partners but drawing broad popular
support for the measure in South America’s No. 2 economy.
“We decided to give back, without any conditions, the areas
that had been revoked. I’m convinced that Santa Cruz inhabitants
are betting on a recovery of our flagship company and there
can’t be split areas,” the pro-government newspaper Tiempo
Argentino cited Santa Cruz governor Daniel Peralta as saying.
No government representative was immediately available to
comment.
In the run-up to YPF’s nationalization, various Argentine
provinces stripped the firm of its concessions.
The decree stipulates exploitation permits for the Los
Monos, Cerro Piedra-Cerro Guadal Norte, Los Perales-Las Mesetas,
Canadon Vasco and Pico Truncado-El Cordon be returned to YPF,
according to the newspaper.
Los Perales represents 8.26 percent of YPF’s national crude
production and 3.9 percent of its natural gas production,
according to official statistics from January.
The government argued YPF’s nationalization was necessary to
sustain an economic boom, boost oil and natural gas output, and
tame sky-rocketing fuel imports.
EU and Spanish authorities have struggled to come up with a
response. Tough action is difficult against a country that has
been shut out of world debt markets and has ignored
international fines in previous disputes.
