President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has signed a bill that will nationalize oil in Argentina. This will align oil interests with the interests of the country of Argentina.
From Reuters: The Chamber of Deputies voted 207-32 in favor of expropriating YPF, clearing the way for President Cristina Fernandez to sign the bill into law. The Senate last week approved the measure by a similarly overwhelming margin.
Citing Brazilian oil giant Petrobras as an example, the president ultimately announced the introduction of a bill on April 16, 2012, for the partial renationalisation of YPF: the state would purchase a 51% share, with the national government controlling 51% of this package and ten provincial governments receiving the remaining 49%.
The company remained the largest in its sector in Argentina despite declining production, operating 52% of the nation’s refinery capacity in three facilities and 1,600 filling stations. Its sales of gasoline and other motor fuels totaled 12.15 billion liters (3.21 billion gallons) in 2011, 57% of the national market in these.
Are citizens from Argentina in favor the bill that passed for nationalization of oil? According to The New York Times report, they are very much in favor. In fact, they want to see 100% nationalization of oil, instead of the 51%.
“They should expropriate 100 percent, not just a part of it,” said Fernando Solanas, a congressman and filmmaker who belongs to an opposition party. “Oil is a public interest.”
