In May of last year Argentina returned YPF, the venerable oil company founded here in 1922, to government control after 19 years in private hands. Congress expropriated 51% of its shares from the Spain’s Repsol, which had purchased the company as part of an economic privatization campaign under former Argentine President Carlos Menem. Current President Cristina Kirchner actively supported the move on grounds that Repsol had not invested sufficiently in exploration and production. She blamed the company for a major slide in crude oil and natural gas output that by 2010 had forced Argentina to become a net importer of oil and gas for the first time in 17 years. In 2011, fuel imports amounted to US$9 billion, wreaking havoc with the country’s public... [Log in to read more]