Buenos Aires province Governor Axel Kicillof called President Javier Milei’s stance on the recent YPF ruling “contradictory and dangerous” in a Tuesday press conference.

According to Kicillof, the president’s words sided with the argument of the plaintiff, hedge fund Burford Capital. “I hold Milei responsible for any decision that puts at risk something as sensitive for Argentines as YPF, Vaca Muerta, and our energy sovereignty,” he said.

The day prior, New York Judge Loretta Preska ordered Argentina to hand over shares of oil and gas giant YPF as a partial payment to hedge fund Burford Capital, which won a US$16.1 billion lawsuit over the company’s 2012 nationalization. In an X post, Milei said the ruling was “against Kicillof,” who was in charge of the YPF takeover as deputy economy minister in 2012.

“Regardless of the underlying issue, the fact that the country has reached this situation is the direct responsibility of the useless soviet Axel Kicillof when he was Economy Minister during the second presidency of the convicted [Cristina Fernández de Kirchner],” Milei posted, adding that the country would appeal the ruling.

In 1993, then-president Carlos Menem privatized the state company YPF, created by the government in 1922. In 2012, through its Congress, Argentina expropriated the shares held by the Spanish multinational Repsol, at the time the majority shareholder. Cristina Kirchner’s presidential administration promoted the expropriation.

Three years later, Burford Capital bought the trial rights from three companies that owned part of the remaining shares — Petersen Energia Inversora, Petersen Energía, and Eton Park. Burford took Argentina to court, claiming the country had failed to make a tender offer to buy their YPF shares when it nationalized the company, incurring significant losses for them as a result. The hedge fund won the lawsuit in September 2023.

Kicillof said that the privatization of the company was “a real disgrace that halved oil and gas production,” and that the expropriation recovered YPF to “promote Argentina’s development.” 

“What is being discussed today is a ruling that condemns Argentina to pay a vulture fund that cannot even own shares, that is to say, it is being discussed whether a company’s bylaws or our National Constitution have more value,” Kicillof said. “A real legal nonsense that has no validity and only seeks to make private interests prevail over our sovereignty.”

“In view of this situation, Milei evidenced that what he and his political party want is to privatize everything,” he added.