name	YPF, S.A.
logo
type	S.A.
foundation	1922
founder	Enrique Mosconi
location city	Buenos Aires
location country	Argentina
area served	Argentina
key people	Sebastián Esquenazi (Chairman and CEO)
industry	Petroleum
products	Oil and gas exploration and production, natural gas and LNG trading and transportation, oil refining, petrochemistry
services	Fuel stations
revenue	US$ 11.1 billion
net income	US$ 2.3 billion
assets	US$ 11.7 billion
num employees	8,400
parent	Repsol YPF
homepage	www.ypf.com.ar
intl	yes }}

Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF; English: "Fiscal Petroleum Fields") is an Argentine oil company.

Founded in 1922 under President Hipólito Yrigoyen's administration, it was privatized in 1993 by Carlos Menem, and bought by the Spanish firm Repsol; the resulting merger in 1999 produced Repsol YPF. YPF's founder and first director was Enrique Mosconi, who advocated economic independence for Latin American states and, during Yrigoyen's second term, starting in 1928, nationalization of oil resources. The latter, however, was never achieved, due to the 1930 military coup against Yrigoyen led by General José Félix Uriburu.

History

The company, specializing in the exploration, production, refining and commercialisation of petroleum, had its origin in 1907, when oil was discovered near the city of Comodoro Rivadavia in Chubut. Following World War I, oil had become an important resource, leading to struggles between rival powers to gain control of it.

YPF was created by the June 3, 1922 decree of Hipólito Yrigoyen's administration, and was first directed by Enrique Mosconi. It was the first entirely state-run oil company in the world (the second being the French ''Compagnie française des pétroles'' (CFP, French Company of Petroleums), created in 1924 by the conservative Raymond Poincaré). YPF's creation was followed by the creation of ''Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos'' (YPFB), as well as the Uruguayan ANCAP (''Administración Nacional de Combustibles, Alcohol y Portland'', 1931) and the Brazilian Petrobras, created in 1953 by Getúlio Vargas.

YPF bought its first tanker in the United States in 1923, and built not only several extracting facilities, but whole towns and cities, such as Comodoro Rivadavia, Caleta Olivia in Santa Cruz, Plaza Huincul in Neuquén and General Mosconi in Salta.

Mosconi, who had previously been in charge of the Aeronautics division of the Army, proposed to Corvalán, governor of Salta Province, exploitation of Salta's oil by the YPF, offering him 13% royalties for the province. However, Corvalán, allied with the Standard Oil, rejected Mosconi's proposal, referring to the concept of provincial autonomies. This refusal lead Mosconi to evolve in favor of the nationalization of oil supplies in order to strengthen Argentina's independence.

Under Alvear's administration, Enrique Mosconi created the distillery of La Plata, which was the tenth largest in the world. According to Mosconi, this spawned the beginning of "the mobilization of all sorts of resistances and obstacles" from the oil trusts, in particular from the Standard Oil, which was the most influential foreign companies in Argentina, with presence in Comodoro Rivadavia, Jujuy and Salta.

On September 28, 1928, at the end of Alvear's term, the deputies approved a law establishing state monopoly on oil. The monopoly, however, was not absolute, being limited to oil exploration, exploitation and transport, but excluding selling and imports. Private firms opposed themselves to the law project, refusing to pay a 10% royalties, and the law was finally blocked by the conservatives in the Senate.

Oil nationalization became an important theme of Yrigoyen's electoral campaign in 1928, although the Yrigoyenistas focused their criticisms against the Standard Oil, abstaining themselves from attacking the British, to whom Argentina's economy was closely linked, in particular the Royal Dutch Shell.

Following Yrigoyen's victory at the 1928 elections, YPF, still directed by Enrique Mosconi, reduced oil prices in May 1929, leading to the cheapest petroleum in the world and to an important increase in YPF's sales compared to its rival private companies, forcing them to also lower their prices. Mosconi also reduced the price of kerosene and agrochemical to contribute to the development of the interior regions of Argentina.

The Institute of Petroleum (''Instituto del Petróleo'') was created on December 30, 1929, and directed by Ricardo Rojas, the rector of the UBA (University of Buenos Aires). Foreseeing conflicts with US private companies, Mosconi proposed an agreement with the Soviet state company Iuyamtorg, which was to allow Argentina to import 250,000 tons of petroleum each year, paid by trade with leather, wool, tannin and mutton. The agreement was to be made official in September 1930, along with the complete nationalization of oil resources. But on September 6, 1930, Yrigoyen was deposed by a military coup headed by General José Félix Uriburu, and the project was withdrawn.

The coup was lobbied for by Standard Oil and other trusts, whose interests in Bolivia conflicted with those of YPF in neighboring Salta Province. The subsequent Concordance regime supported YPF, however, and its role as the nation's leading oil distillates retailer was bolstered by a 1936 agreement with the Automóvil Club Argentino to supply a chain of ACA service stations. This and other contracts gave YPF exclusivity in fuel dispensaries at 3,000 service stations by 1980. President Arturo Frondizi enacted policies in 1958 which granted foreign firms concessions over wells discovered by YPF, as a means of fostering production. These contracts were annulled by President Arturo Illia in 1963, however, over concerns that YPF would be deprived of adequate returns for its exploration investments. The company discovered oil in ''Puesto Hernández'' in 1965, leading to the development of Rincón de los Sauces (Neuquén Province), which was later declared the "national energy capital" due to its having 50% of the Argentine national reserves of oil and natural gas.

Privatization

President Carlos Menem initiated the privatization of the firm's refineries, pipelines and oil fields in 1991, netting US$1.5 billion by 1993. An 80% stake in YPF itself was sold in July 1993 for US$3 billion in cash, plus US$2 billion in debt retirement. The state ultimately retained a 5% share, which it sold in 1999 to Repsol, a Spanish multinational corporation that later launched a successful bid to take over the entire company. The union of the two companies took on the name Repsol YPF; former YPF operations represent almost 50% of its production.

Creation of Enarsa

President Néstor Kirchner created Enarsa (''Energía Argentina Sociedad Anónima'') in 2004. An energy company of which the state controls 53%, Enarsa later entered into a number of joint ventures with Venezuelan state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela.

Enarsa was labeled a "just a company to make personal business" by a member of the Congress, Proyecto Sur founder Pino Solanas, who manifested his wish that a new, state-owned oil company be created instead.

Recent changes

The firm's new headquarters, the Repsol-YPF tower, was designed by César Pelli and were inaugurated in 2008. YPF announced on May 4, 2011, that Grupo Petersen (property of the Eskenazi family) bought another 10% of the company for USD 1,300 million. Nevertheless, most of YPF shares are still under the control of Repsol which owns the 58,23% of the company. Repsol and the Petersen group began to make business in 2007, reaching an agree that allowed the Argentine holding to acquire a 14,9% of YPF.

Sport support and sponsorships

Sponsor of Argentina national football team

Sponsor of 2011 Argentina national tennis team

Sponsor of 2011 Torneos de Verano

Oil supplier to several Argentine motor racing series

References

External links

Official site

YPF Privatization (Spanish)

Category:Oil and gas companies of Argentina Category:Companies established in 1922

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