Excerpt from the Rio Times

Argentina YPF Seeks Petrobras Partnership

By Stephen Eisenhammer, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina is seeking greater partnership with Brazilian state-run energy company, Petrobras, to develop the country’s energy resources after announcing the nationalization of YPF, its main oil producer, last week. The move, which saw Argentine president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, strip a 51 percent YPF stake from Spanish oil company Repsol and place the company under national control, sent shock waves through the business world.

Argentina´s Planning Minister, Julio de Vido, met with the Minister of Energy, Lobao, photo by Elza Fiúza/ABr.

Petrobras however, might be set to gain from the decision, reinforcing its position as Latin America’s leading energy company. Argentina’s planning minister, Julio de Vido, flew to Brasília on Friday, April 20th, to invite greater investment and partnership between the newly nationalized YPF and Petrobras.

Brazil’s energy minister, Edison Lobao, and Petrobras president, Maria das Gracas Foster, both attended the meeting. Lobao told press after the meetings that Petrobras’ investments in Argentina would remain at roughly R$500 million in 2012, the same as 2011. He was careful not to rebut Vido’s call for Petrobras to double its oil and gas output in the South American neighbor, but said this would only happen “in due time.”

Presidents Rousseff and Kirchner during a August 2011 summit in Brasília, photo by Antonio Cruz/ABr.

To read the balance of this article, go to http://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-business/argentina

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.