“Two swords of Damocles”. This is how Pablo Gonzalez, president of YPF, defines the two lawsuits that the company has had to face in the US courts and which have been resolved in the last week.
In one, for errors in the oil company’s expropriation, the New York court established national state liability, but released the oil company from paying the plaintiff investment fund. In the other -which dates back to 2005-, YPF and the Spanish Repsol (previous owner of the oil company) reached an agreement with the Maxus liquidation trust, a company that YPF bought in the 1990s, which was affected by a US judgment of 14,000 million dollars. due to environmental contamination. The deal was worth $550 million.
“A negative outcome in both cases would have spelled catastrophe for YPF. Likewise, it should be clarified that both lawsuits (Maxus and the Burford fund lawsuit) still have appeal requests”, explains the head of the oil company, who ruled out the possibility of being a candidate for president for the Frente de Todos, speculation that occurred during the week.
YPF has export projects, such as oil in Chile and gas around the world, through an LNG plant. Had the company faced a million-dollar judgment payment, the income and investments it needed for the next phase would remain susceptible to future garnishment orders. On these topics, González spoke with clarion.
– The nation state will appeal the Burford process. Can both sides do the same or try to continue in the Maxus case, in which YPF was accused of contamination?
– The parties have agreed. There has been an agreement since June of last year, but the EPA (the US state regulatory agency for environmental issues) has also had to accept it. This has now been validated by Oxy (the US oil company with which YPF did business), Repsol, YPF and the “trust” (liquidation Maxus). Judge’s approval is awaited. The parties have agreed, signed the documents and established the amount of compensation acceptable to all parties.
– Can we speak of clear fronts in both processes?
– Petronas insists on continuing the deal with YPF for the LNG project. No one makes an investment deal of this magnitude – which can go as high as $50,000 million – with someone losing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit. This is good for YPF and for the country. The fronts are clear enough.
– What plans do you have for this year?
– It would be important that the LNG project was sent to Congress. We hope to put the Vaca Muerta-Bio Bio pipeline into operation in Chile, advance the Vaca Muerta Sur pipeline, which crosses the Río Negro, advance the Néstor Kirchner pipeline and be able to build unconventional fractures in Palermo Aike (south of Santa Croce ).
– Change the economic history of Argentina. This is a $30,000 million investment in pipelines and facilities and another $20,000 million in gas production. It’s 50,000 million dollars, it’s something monstrous. The gas we could export exceeds all gas consumption in Spain for one year, or almost all demand in France. There are 460 ships that would be exported, with an income that can reach 20,000 million dollars a year.
– We would be the sixth largest gas exporter in the world. We have a partner like Petronas. which is the fourth largest company in the world.
– It will depend on the sanction of the regulatory framework. In any case, YPF and Petronas engineers already meet every three months somewhere in the world. The next meeting is in May in Kuala Lumpur. They are working on the development of the tender for the pipeline to be built. It is a pipeline of 640 kilometers. And then two more, it’s like having to build three pipelines equal to the NK, which connects Vaca Muerta with Buenos Aires. Engineering development is ongoing, but the timing depends on the regulatory framework.
– Hopefully, with a lot of luck, we will sign the final investment decision at the end of the year. So far we have a memorandum of understanding, but it will depend on the passage of the law. I believe that this must be a state policy, that all political parties must reach an agreement for the treatment of this norm.
Source: Clarin
