The governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, recalled this Saturday the tenth anniversary of the recovery of control of the YPF company by the State and, with it, sovereignty over hydrocarbons.
“Today marks the tenth anniversary of a historic moment in Argentina: when Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced the recovery of 51% of YPF shares by the State, after many difficulties generated by the catastrophic privatization of the 1990s”Kicillof recalled.
On April 16, 2012, the Argentine government announced the decision to expropriate 51% of YPF shares belonging to the Spanish oil company Repsol. and, days later, the measure was ratified by the National Congress.
The Executive used as central arguments the need to face a emptying policy exercised by the controlling company and to recover energy sovereignty through state management of oil.
Ten years after the nationalization of YPF, I spoke with @LPOArg about the fundamental role it played to recover the sovereignty of hydrocarbons and how it boosted the production of unconventional gas and oil in Vaca Muerta.
Read the full note here https://t.co/WYSsnVlkGq
— Axel Kicillof (@Kicillofok) April 16, 2022
In a thread of messages on his Twitter account, Kicillof pointed out that “YPF had interrupted the emblematic place it occupied as a hydrocarbon-producing state company, beginning with a policy of indebtedness, of reducing investment and oil production and gas”.
“But above all, it had turned Argentina into one of the few countries that, having oil and gas, had no way of regulating, controlling and making the most of that sector,” he stressed.
Today, he assured, “We can say that not only was it possible to recover the flagship company and its role in the development of production and in the distribution of income; but also through the recovery of YPF, Vaca Muerta was brought to life”.
“That is central because today unconventional hydrocarbons such as shale (oil) are a very important part of production; without that we would not have the possibility of recovering sovereignty in hydrocarbons,” he added.
For Kicillof, “this affects not only production, but also the national macroeconomy because what is not produced has to be imported.”
“A country that has natural resources must defend them because they belong to all Argentines, not from a handful of companies and even less from a single company that monopolizes the sector”, he added.
