Argentina: Desperate Now Seen Begging for Oil Investment

Thursday, May 10, 2012 – by Staff Report

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
Argentine Vice President Amado Boudou on Tuesday urged US companies to invest in YPF, the nationalized oil company that Argentina recently expropriated from Spain's Repsol ... "We are very optimistic in terms of what is coming for the Argentine economy in general and the hydrocarbons sector specifically" Boudou said at a Conference on the Americas at the US State Department in Washington. Far from scaring off foreign investment because of the expropriation, the government of President Cristina Fernandez has set the framework for "excellent opportunities for those who want to invest in joint ventures and possibilities of joint work in the energy sector," he said. The Cristina Fernandez administration is gambling that the discovery in May 2011 of a giant oilfield in Argentina's Patagonia would be too tempting for foreign oil giants to ignore. YPF needs the know-how and the capital to fully exploit the oil fields in the south-western Nequen province, known as Vaca Muerta (Dead Cow), which according to official estimates holds 150 million barrels of oil. YPF is "open to capital and the possibility of working together with public or private companies in Argentina or abroad," Boudou said. – Merco Press
Dominant Social Theme: Don't cry for Argentina. It's all under control ...
Free-Market Analysis: Are Argentina's top officials having second thoughts about their expropriation of Spain's Argentine oil-producer? It would seem that way from the above news report via Merco Press.
If the move was as wildly destructive as people think it may have been, then this posture would tend to confirm the idea that one of the world's more powerful and influential states is simply spinning out of control.
Read More