Repsol executive: YPF withholding key information
BY TAOS TURNER
BUENOS AIRES--An executive from Spanish oil company Repsol SA has accused Argentine oil producer YPF SA of withholding important information from the market, the local daily Clarin reported Thursday.
The accusation came about three months after Argentina's government expropriated 51% of YPF from Repsol, leaving the Spanish firm with a 12% stake in the company.
Antonio Gomis, who according to Repsol is YPF's general director, said Repsol made crucial shale-oil and shale-gas discoveries before the takeover but YPF is keeping that information from the public.
In February, when Repsol was still its majority owner, YPF raised its estimate for unconventional shale-oil and natural-gas resources to 22.8 billion bbl from 927 million, citing a major find in an area known as Vaca Muerta in the province of Neuquen.
"Argentina is so lucky that it has a total of 15 mother rocks, 15 Vaca Muertas, in its territory," Mr. Gomis told Clarin. "We had started working on other mother rocks and made concrete discoveries at two wells. We had planned to announce this on April 16. Three months have passed and YPF hasn't said anything about this."
Kristian Rix, a spokesman for Repsol, confirmed the comments and said Argentina's government is "withholding information and destroying value in YPF to the detriment of investors and of Argentines."
A YPF spokesman declined to comment for this article.
Dow Jones Newswires
07/26/2012