The Spanish government has warned Argentina that its planned hi-jack of Repsol’s majority stake in YPF would make the country “an international pariah”. Repsol holds 57% ownership of the company and represents 42% of Repsol’s total reserves of some 2.1billion barrels of oil.
Spain’s foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo recently summoned Argentine Ambassador Carlo Antonio Bettini to express concern over the possible nationalisation of YPF and, following the meeting, said that his government would consider an attack on Repsol as an assault on the Spanish government.