tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post1408224431365558151..comments2024-02-21T05:16:22.788-05:00Comments on Two Weeks Notice: A Latin American Politics Blog: Argentina and oil productionGreg Weekshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15765114859595124082noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-38453829939505548232012-04-22T13:50:53.106-04:002012-04-22T13:50:53.106-04:00A very good question. There's some (highly qua...A very good question. There's some (highly qualified) support for Weisbrot's productivity argument from this week's Economist article:<br /><br />"The government has blamed its woes on Repsol, accusing the company of carting off profits instead of reinvesting them. There is some truth to this. Though YPF has invested $11 billion in Argentina since 2006 while handing out $3.5 billion in dividends, it has mostly gone to bolstering existing fields rather than to exploration.<br /><br />But YPF cites two reasons why it has had to pay money out, rather than spend it on drill-heads. The first is that in 2007 the government concocted a scheme in which Enrique Eskenazi, a bank owner who had previously dealt with Kirchner, would buy a 15% stake in YPF (later raised to 25%). Because he put up precious little cash, the company and a group of banks lent him the money. YPF then agreed to dole out 90% of its subsequent profits in dividends so that he could afford to pay it back"<br />http://www.economist.com/node/21553070Aguachilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04793740269620870197noreply@blogger.com