"You can't mess with Chubut": The governor goes to court in New York to request the lifting of the embargo on YPF shares.

Following the announcement that the New York courts rejected Argentina's request to suspend the transfer of 51% of YPF's shares, Chubut Governor Ignacio "Nacho" Torres announced that the province will seek the lifting of the embargo in those courts.

"CHUBUT IS NOT A MESS. While others are hiding their true colors, we stand up and defend what is ours, to the bitter end," Torres said on his X account, where he announced that the province will be going to court in New York.

Later, in a statement, Torres explained that the Provincial Government will appear before the New York Court of Appeals to request the lifting of the embargo imposed by U.S. Judge Loretta Preska on the shares distributed to hydrocarbon-producing jurisdictions.

"We are going to stand firm and defend to the bitter end what is the heritage of our province," the governor warned.

Torres was referring to the ruling by Judge Loretta Preska of the Second District Court of New York, which ordered Argentina to hand over 51% of YPF's shares to the Burford and Eton Park funds , in compliance with the sentence for the expropriation of the oil company in 2012.

The president recalled that, of that percentage, "51% went to the national government and 49% to the oil-producing provinces grouped in OFEPHI (Federal Organization of Hydrocarbon Producing States) according to a distribution based on production guidelines," and clarified that "in the lawsuit being processed in New York, the defendant is the Argentine government, and the defendant's property can be seized, but no more. The remaining shares belong to the oil-producing provinces, including Chubut."

In a message released with Vice Governor Gustavo Menna and National Representative Ana Clara Romero from the "historic" YPF Administration in Comodoro Rivadavia, the president clarified that he would defend "our own interests" from both Kirchnerist demagoguery and the violation of a ruling by a US judge who, out of ignorance, fails to consider that the oil-producing provinces are shareholders in YPF.

Thus, he confirmed that, by holding a shareholding in YPF, they are entitled to appear and request the lifting of the embargo on Chubut's shares because, he stated, "our province is not a defendant and has not been convicted."

Torres also questioned the "sloppiness" of previous provincial administrations , which "never formalized or approved by law" the agreement signed in 2012 with the National Government.

The law established the transfer of 49% of the shares to hydrocarbon-producing states based on production levels in each territory. "That agreement was never sent to the Legislature for approval," he said.

WITH CHUBUT, YOU DON'T FUCK WITH ITWhile others are disappearing, we stand up and defend what is ours, until the very end.

That's why we're going to the New York Court of Appeals to demand that the embargo placed on our assets by Judge Loretta Preska be lifted... pic.twitter.com/uG2GnpcmlI

— Nacho Torres (@NachoTorresCH) July 14, 2025

In that regard, the president also criticized "the poor results of the negotiations carried out that year, where Mendoza received 20% and Chubut, which had been the country's leading oil producer for several years, received only 8%."

Similarly, Vice Governor Gustavo Menna explained that "the law that expropriated 51% of YPF's shares in 2012 stipulated that 49% of those shares would be transferred to the oil-producing provinces," and indicated that " today, those Chubut shares are seized by order of Judge Loretta Peska, without considering that our province is neither a party nor a debtor in that lawsuit."

And along those lines, national representative Ana Clara Romero stated that, "in addition to defending the people of Chubut and what is ours in Congress, we will appear before the New York Court headed by Preska to request the lifting of the embargo."