Three Argentine provinces appear before U.S. court in YPF case

Three Argentine provinces have filed briefs as amici curiae (friends of the court) in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit in New York over the 2012 nationalization of oil company YPF, official sources said.

The filing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was made Monday by the provinces of Mendoza, Chubut and Santa Cruz, which, as oil producers, are shareholders in YPF.

In 2015, after acquiring litigation rights from Argentina’s Petersen Group—formerly a minority shareholder in YPF—Britain’s Burford Capital and U.S.-based Eton Park sued Argentina in New York courts over the nationalization of the company.

The plaintiffs argued that Argentina violated a clause in YPF’s bylaws requiring any buyer of more than 15% of the company to extend the same offer to all shareholders, which did not happen.

In 2023, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled in their favor, ordering Argentina to pay $16.1 billion.

On June 30, Preska instructed Argentina to transfer its 51% stake in YPF to the plaintiffs.

Argentina appealed that decision to the Second Circuit, which on July 15 granted a temporary administrative stay of Preska’s order pending the appeal process.

The provinces told the appeals court that Preska’s ruling fails to recognize that oil-producing provinces are YPF shareholders and that only assets belonging to the defendant—in this case the Argentine federal government—can be seized.

The law passed by Argentina’s Congress in 2012 expropriating Repsol’s 51% stake in YPF stipulates that 51% of that share belongs to the national government and the remaining 49% to the country’s ten oil-producing provinces.

Mendoza, Chubut and Santa Cruz have also joined Argentine courts as plaintiffs in a case investigating the Petersen Group’s 2007 entry into YPF, when the Eskenazi family acquired a 25% stake from Repsol.

According to Chubut Governor Ignacio Torres, “the Eskenazi group acquired 25% of YPF shares by leveraging future dividends, and this predates the expropriation.”

Torres said that “challenging that operation could change everything that followed,” including Petersen’s sale of litigation rights to Burford and the case in New York.

YPF, listed in Buenos Aires and New York, is Argentina’s largest hydrocarbon producer.

The company accounts for 40% of the country’s oil output and 30% of its gas, operates three refineries representing 50% of national refining capacity, and has a wide network of gas stations, pipeline stakes, natural gas distribution, and renewable energy generation.

YPF also leads development of the vast Vaca Muerta shale formation and is engaged in multibillion-dollar projects with partners to export oil and liquefied natural gas by sea.

The company reported $29.015 billion in assets and $11.924 billion in equity as of the second quarter of 2025.