Argentina to take control of energy company YPF

Argentina’s government has announced it intends to expropriate 51 per cent of leading energy company YPF, a move that could lead to further economic isolation of the country.

YPF, controlled by Spain’s Repsol, has been under intense pressure from the centre-left government and its share price has plunged due to months of speculation about a forced government take-over.

President Cristina Fernandez yesterday said the government would ask congress, which she controls, to approve a bill to expropriate 51 per cent of the energy company, saying energy was a “vital resource.”

Of the expropriated shares, the government would hold 51 per cent and the country’s oil-producing provinces the rest.

Until recently, YPF had a relatively harmonious relationship with Ms Fernandez, whose increasingly interventionist economic policies infuriate critics.

A huge discovery of shale gas in 2010 made YPF chief executive Sebastian Eskenazi the toast of a government eager for good news about the nation’s shrinking energy resources.

Analysts say the spiralling cost of fuel imports prompted Ms Fernandez to seek a resolution to the country’s energy deficit.