BUENOS AIRES- Ar­gen­tine Pres­i­dent Cristi­na Fer­nan­dez yes­ter­day pro­posed a bill to na­tion­alise the YPF oil com­pa­ny that is con­trolled by Spain's Rep­sol, mov­ing ahead with the plan de­spite fierce op­po­si­tion from Madrid. Fer­nan­dez said in an ad­dress to the coun­try that the mea­sure sent to con­gress yes­ter­day is aimed at re­cov­er­ing the na­tion's sov­er­eign­ty over its hy­dro­car­bon re­sources. She said the shares be­ing ex­pro­pri­at­ed will be split be­tween the na­tion­al and provin­cial gov­ern­ments.

The pres­i­dent com­plained that Ar­genti­na last year had to spend more than US$3 bil­lion to im­por­tant gas and pe­tro­le­um. Span­ish of­fi­cials have al­ready protest­ed the plan, say­ing Ar­genti­na risks be­com­ing "an in­ter­na­tion­al pari­ah" if it takes con­trol of Rep­sol's YPF sub­sidiary. Span­ish For­eign Min­is­ter Jose Manuel Gar­cia-Mar­gal­lo last week sum­moned Ar­gen­tine Am­bas­sador Car­lo An­to­nio Bet­ti­ni to con­vey con­cern over pos­si­ble na­tion­al­i­sa­tion of YPF, which rep­re­sents 42 per cent of Rep­sol's to­tal re­serves, es­ti­mat­ed at 2.1 bil­lion bar­rels of crude. YPF is Ar­genti­na's biggest com­pa­ny, and Spain is Ar­genti­na's largest for­eign in­vestor, with the Unit­ed States in sec­ond place.