President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina introduced a bill on April 16, 2012 for the partial renationalization of YPF, the nation's largest energy firm.

[17] The Kirchner administration in turn pointed to high dividend yields and low investment levels at YPF in relation to profits.

[11][17] Argentine Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino claimed that asset stripping at YPF had financed Repsol's expansion in other parts of the world,[18] while Repsol officials denied charges of underinvestment in its YPF operations and instead cited the Vaca Muerta discovery as a motivation for the takeover.

[15][19] Vaca Muerta, a 30,000 km2 (11,600 mi2) unconventional oil field with proven recoverable reserves of up to 927 million barrels, had been discovered by RepsolYPF in November 2011.

[21] The Chinese state oil concern, Sinopec, was reported to have been in talks to buy out Repsol's share in YPF – a potential deal scuttled by the Argentine announcement.

[26] Repsol retaliated by canceling nine shipments of liquefied natural gas to Argentine state energy distributor Enarsa, claiming the government breached contracts following the seizure of YPF.

[35] The largest minority shareholder, the Petersen Group, held a 25% stake at the time of the renationalization, and had financed their initial purchase of 15% of the stock in 2007 with a vendor's loan from Repsol for €1.5 billion.

[36] Eskenazi benefited from a dividend distribution rate at YPF of 90%, which allowed the Group to repay its vendor's loan in installments.

[37] The 2008 agreement required Repsol to buy back shares owned by the Group and to assume the loan should the Madrid-based firm lose majority control of YPF.

[39] Officials at Credit Suisse and at other creditors involved, including Banco Itaú, BNP Paribas, and Goldman Sachs, announced on May 11 that the Group's shares would be repossessed as collateral.

[3] Miguel Galluccio, an Argentine petroleum engineer with experience at both YPF and at oilfield services leader Schlumberger as president of its production management division in London, was appointed CEO.

[50] Development prospects for the Vaca Muerta field, which by 2014 was estimated to contain at least 23 billion barrels of oil,[51] attracted numerous joint exploratory ventures in subsequent years.