Repsol SA (REP), the Spanish oil producer stripped of its Argentine unit last year, said the South American government is refusing to discuss compensation for the nationalization of YPF SA. (YPFD)
“We are not engaged in any negotiation with the Argentine government,” Arturo Gonzalo, Repsol’s director of institutional relations and corporate responsibility, said today at an event in New York. “They don’t talk and they don’t pay.”
Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo said Nov. 13 that there is space to negotiate terms for Repsol departure from Argentina. The Madrid-based producer filed a claim against Argentina with the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a Washington-based organization belonging to the World Bank, according to a Dec. 3 regulatory filing. Repsol said at the time it made the arbitration claim after having completed a six-month period since it notified Argentina of the disagreement.
Jessica Rey, a spokeswoman for Argentine Deputy Economy Minister Axel Kicillof, and Horacio Mizrahi, a spokesman for Planning Minister Julio De Vido, didn’t reply to telephone calls seeking comment on Gonzalo’s statements.
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said April 18 that compensation will be determined by Argentina’s National Appraisal Tribunal, a government-chartered agency that helps determine the value of disputed assets involving companies or governments.
