Cristina Fernández de Kirchner electricity, gas and water supply. These remained fixed during the terms of Duhalde and Néstor and Cristina Kirchner, despite the crisis that motivated them having ended. As the inflation rate grew during the period, the state financed part of these prices with subsidies. Investment in these areas decreased, and the generation and distribution networks suffered. Argentina lost its self-supply of energy, and had to import it, rather than being able to export surpluses. Kirchner proposed a fiscal austerity program in early 2012, including the gradual removal of subsidies. The proposal turned out to be unpopular, and was not implemented. She
Repsol of the massive Vaca Muerta shale-gas field. The board of the Repsol firm unanimously rejected this offer, as it would have caused them to drop a $10.5 billion lawsuit that was in progress against the Argentine government. Repsol at the time owned 6.4% of the YPF oil-and-gas company. On 25 February 2014 the Repsol board announced it had accepted a settlement offer from the Argentine government of an issue of Argentine bonds valued at $5 billion. The deal concluded after 3 months of negotiations in Buenos Aires was subject to shareholder approval. The agreement ended two years of legal wrangling