YPF’s share has risen 10% after settling disputes, but still far from what it was worth in 2005

After settling a lawsuit two decades ago, YPF’s share had a share of 10% rebound on the New York Stock Exchange. The oil company’s share price rallied 10.2% on Monday to trade at US$12.30. With this increase, the YPF is already rebounding reaches 140% year on year, since it was US$5 in March last year.

The action of YPF -che came to be worth US$3- suffered during the pandemic. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, almost all oil companies saw a sharp price hike, due to the improvement in oil and gas energy prices. But that bullish wave was elusive to YPF. The market valued it lower than its peers due to the “postal code” effect, the company’s link with local politics and the lawsuits that weighed on the company , among other factors.

YPF has drawn “two swords from Damocles”, according to Pablo González, its president. One was the Burford fund trial against the National State and YPF for failing to make a public offering of shares when control of the company changed. US justice has held that the national State must compensate the plaintiffs -the amount of which is difficult to estimate-, but released YPF from all liability.

YPF was also weighed from another trial for an oil company it bought in the 1990s. This is the so-called Maxus case, as the acquired company was accused of polluting a river. The settlement was for US$575 million, payable between YPF and Repsol (previous shareholder).

The 10% increase thrilled YPF. Since this year began, the oil company’s stake has fluctuated between US$10 and US$12 In 2022, while oil company newspapers (Exxon, Chevron) flew with record profits, YPF moved in a range of US$5 to US$9, well below other companies in the same sector in other countries.

While the current improvement -140%- is strong, YPF’s share is close to what it was after the expropriation in May 2012. It’s a long way from having hit a peak. In 2005, each role of the local oil company came to be worth US$60, that is five times more than the current price.

Since March 2005 and for four years, the YPF share has been at high values ​​(between US$45 and US$55). Between August 2019 and until the expropriation, it was also in a high price zone (between 35 and 45 USD). Since February 2018 and for almost a year, it has also been trading at twice what it is now (at an average of USD 25). After the 2019 primaries – with a comfortable victory of the Frente de Todos, which heralded its victory in the following general elections, YPF fell from USD 16 to USD 9. And it stayed in that area until the pandemic, where he went down to $3.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a period of acute international crisis, in which the price of oil has turned negative. In WTI oil contracts -the US benchmark-, oil companies had to pay someone to store their oil during the early days. Then he was correcting.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the price of major oil companies had a jump of up to 25%: This is what happened with Chevron, Exxon and Shell, just to name a few. His stock jumped and held at certain highs. YPF didn’t ride that wave.

The crude oil price boom has also cooled off. The barrel touched $100 after the conflict in Europe, but has now stabilized at around $80.

The price of petrol almost doubled between January 2022 and March 2023. Superfuel, which is the cheapest, went from $90 to $170 at the oil company’s gas stations in the city of Buenos Aires. During 2022, YPF was also affected by diesel shortages in several winter months.

During 2022, YPF’s profitability reached nearly $5,000 million, 27 percent higher than a year earlier, “ranking as the third-highest in company history,” according to a company statement released on Thursday. .