A US district judge has ordered Argentina to transfer its controlling stake (51%) in the state-owned oil and gas company YPF to former shareholders, increasing pressure on the country to pay a US$16bn judgment related to its 2012 nationalisation of the group. The judge ruled that Argentina must transfer its shares within 14 days to a global custody account at the US bank BNY Mellon, which will then be instructed to transfer the shares to the plaintiffs within one business day.
Argentina’s presidency pledged to appeal the decision. The country has not posted collateral pending the appeal, and government officials have declined to enter negotiations with the judgment creditors. In 2023, the same US judge ruled that the nationalisation violated YPF’s bylaws, which required the company to make a tender offer to all shareholders, and ordered the government to pay US$16bn in compensation and interest.
YPF, Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (51% state-owned) is the Argentinian national oil and gas company. YPF produced 536 kboe/d of oil and gas in 2024, including 258 kb/d of crude oil. In 2012, the government seized control of the 51% stake owned by Repsol because of a lack of investment and decreasing hydrocarbon production by YPF. In 2014, Repsol approved a US$5bn settlement as compensation for its 51% stake and sold its 12% remaining stake to Morgan Stanley for approximately US$1.3bn.