Nationalization of oil supplies In April 2010, Argentina's president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner introduced a bill on April 16, 2012, for the expropriation of YPF, the nation's largest energy firm. The state would purchase a 51% share, with the national government controlling 51% of this package and ten provincial governments receiving the remaining 49%. Investment in exploration at YPF as a percentage of profits had been far below those in most other Repsol subsidiaries, and declines in output at the firm represented 54% of the nation's lost oil production and 97% in the case of natural gas. Market analysts and Repsol blamed the decline
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner opted instead to send a bill to Congress for the renationalization of YPF, privatized in 1993, blaming the Spanish company Repsol for the energy trade deficit. The bill was approved by the Chamber of Deputies by a 207-32 margin. It was criticized as an authoritarian move, as there was no negotiation with Repsol. As well, the Vaca Muerta oil field had been discovered by this time. However, YPF was unable to afford the costs to exploit the oil at the site, and the rights to drill at Vaca Muerta were sold to the Chevron Corporation. The costs of energy imports