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Repsol sues Argentina over giant YPF seizure

16 May 2012 12:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. Repsol YPF SA, the large Spanish oil and gas company, o n T uesday sued Argentina for seizing control of formerly state-owned energy company YPF SA, in which Repsol held a majority stake, APA reports citing Reuters.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, is part of Repsol’s effort to recover more than $10 billion from Argentina over the seizure in a case that could drag on in arbitration and the courts for years.

Argentina also faces tens of billions of dollars of other U.S. litigation, largely tied to its sovereign debt default one decade ago.

Representatives for the government were not immediately available late Tuesday for comment.

In the complaint, Repsol and the money manager Texas Yale Capital Corp, which holds YPF American depositary receipts, claimed that Argentina reneged on its promise to tender for Class D shares of YPF if it ever took back control of the company.

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez announced the planned seizure of a 51 percent stake in YPF from Repsol on April 16, contending that the Spanish company did not invest enough and allowed oil production and exploration to decline.