Beefing up PetroPeru… with Repsol?
Ollanta Humala, Peru’s president, likes to keep everyone on their toes when it comes to his ideology.
Having swapped his Hugo Chávez-esque rhetoric for an electorally palatable, Brazilian-inspired centre-left script as easily as if he was changing t-shirts, Humala has once again rattled investors with the suggestion that state-run PetroPeru should get back into oil and gas production by buying Repsol’s assets. Continue reading »
Repsol-YPF: burying the hatchet?
Less than a year after Argentina seized control of YPF, could the state-controlled oil company be close to a deal with its former parent, Repsol of Spain, to develop rich shale resources in Argentina?
Such is the spin, it’s hard to know how to take this. No one has actually seen a copy of the deal which one source close to the negotiations claims has been sitting ready to be signed for more than a week. Continue reading »
Repsol sues Chevron over YPF deal
Just when New York Judge Thomas Griesa must have been relaxing at having got Argentina’s holdout saga out of his court, another suit involving the country goes and plops into his in-tray.
This case this time? Repsol v. Chevron. The Spanish oil company followed up on its threat to sue any companies that sought to join forces with its expropriated former unit, YPF, to develop shale assets, and filed a complaint against the US major. Continue reading »
YPF: back to market for $600m
YPF is going to market again. The renationalised Argentine oil company is still biding its time for an international bond issue – though that could come later this year or early next. But hot on the heels of its issue last month for some $320m , it now has another offer underway, for up to some $600m. Continue reading »
Argentina’s new oil rules “worse than nationalisation”
A public relations adage holds that bad news is best released on Friday, so that it’s published in the little-read Saturday papers. And it’s a fair guess that Argentina’s government had an inkling that new rules governing the country’s petroleum industry and public shares in private companies, quietly made public on Friday, would not be warmly embraced. Continue reading »
Repsol on YPF: “They’re destroying shareholder value.” [updated]
The feud between Spanish oil company Repsol and the government of Argentina—which expropriated 51 per cent of the shares of its YPF subsidiary in April - was turned up a notch on Thursday. In the Spanish company’s earnings call as well as in an interview in an Argentine newspaper, Repsol executives claimed that the nationalised company was producing less than when they ran it, and was hiding several new petroleum discoveries—made while the company was private—for political gain. Continue reading »
Chávez wades into YPF dispute
Executives at Repsol must be scratching their heads. They’ve barely set a foot wrong in the investor minefield that is revolutionary Venezuela, managing to sign some major deals with the government in the last couple of years.
But as far as Hugo Chávez is concerned, that’s not enough. For Venezuela’s pugnacious leader, the enemy of a friend like Argentina is also an enemy of his, it seems – and there’s little doubt about the fact that Argentina and Repsol don’t exactly see eye to eye right now. Continue reading »
YPF: investment up, dividends down, operational plans to be announced
Tuesday’s meeting of YPF shareholders in Buenos Aires was most notable for its interminable length – more than six hours – and for decisions to ramp up investment and drastically cut the company’s dividend payout.
But investors will have to wait a bit longer to find out how the newly-nationalised oil company aims to revitalise its operations. Attempts to put questions about future plans were brushed aside. Continue reading »
YPF: so what’s the game plan?
YPF, the Argentine oil company, has a new owner (the Argentine state); a new logo (complete with the Argentine flag) and, as the pro-government Tiempo Argentina newspaper put it, a new “dream team” of savvy professionals to run it.
So the big question now is: what is the new plan? Continue reading »
When an avalanche of Spanish capital turned up on Latin America’s doorstep over the turn of the century, naysayers shuddered at headlines that welcomed the “New Conquistadors”. Latin America seemed to many to be a risky bet for Spanish banks, energy and telecommunications companies by comparison with the comfort zone provided by European markets.
Instead, the steady growth of Latin America has provided welcome relief for Spanish companies from the financial turmoil at home. But in recent weeks troubles in the old country have appeared to clip the wings of the Spanish companies in LatAm. A weakened Spain, indeed, seems to have lost political clout in the region. Continue reading »
Argentina: Repsol strikes back
Photo: Bloomberg
Repsol, the Spanish oil company whose majority stake in Argentina’s YPF will be expropriated by law this week, has taken some revenge, it seems – hitting Argentina where it will hurt as the southern hemisphere winter approaches by blocking a shipment of liquefied natural gas. Repsol had contracted 10 cargoes of LNG and if they are all scrapped, that will leave a big hole to fill. Continue reading »
Vale “very concerned” about $6bn project in Argentina
Will the nationalisation of YPF be good or bad for investment in Argentina? For those in doubt, here’s one sign that the answer is “bad”. Vale, the Brazilian mining giant, is preparing a review of its $5.9bn Argentine potash project to be presented to its board next month, Bloomberg reports.
“We are very concerned about the political situation and their whole environment in Argentina,” Bloomberg reported Murilo Ferreira, chief executive, as saying in a conference call with analysts. Vale is not alone. Continue reading »
LNG: Repsol’s ace in the hole?
Winter appears to have come all of a sudden in Argentina, and low temperatures generally mean one thing: a scramble for gas. The nationalisation of YPF could throw a further spanner in the works, since Repsol won key contracts this year to supply Argentina with liquefied natural gas during the winter. Those contract are now in doubt. Continue reading »
Guest post: Argentina and the rise of neocorporatism
By Walter Molano of BCP Securities
Like piggies at the trough, Argentine businessmen are falling in love with the nationalization of YPF. At first, the private sector recoiled at the idea. It symbolised the growing isolationism of the nation, the abrogation of private property rights and the heavy-handed nature of the Fernández de Kirchner administration. However, the move is taking on a new life of its own. Continue reading »
Chart of the week: Argentina M&A
After what has happened to Repsol, who would invest in Argentina? That was the question being asked after Cristina Fernández announced that YPF was to be nationalised, sparking howls of protest in Madrid and general condemnation from investors and the media.
But how much was being invested in Argentina before? And how does it compare to the rest of the region? Chart of the week takes a look. Continue reading »
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