Brufau says the company has no acquisitions in mind at the moment.
The Spanish-Argentine oil company Repsol YPF is finalizing the revision of its Strategic Plan, which will include an investment of around 25.000 billion euros (5.000 billion per year) in all business areas over the next five years, its president, Antonio Brufau, announced today.
The company's new strategic direction, which will be presented before the end of the year, will be based on "organic growth," although it will not rule out "selective and smaller" acquisitions, the executive explained.
Brufau assured that the company generates sufficient resources to grow "sustainably" on its own, although he clarified that in the future small acquisitions could be undertaken, but "never transformative purchases".
However, in the current situation, with high crude oil prices, Repsol YPF has "no purchases in mind," a situation that will continue at least "for the next two years."
"The most likely scenario is that the price environment will remain reasonably high. If it stays that way, growth will be based on internal strengths; if it changes, we'll see," he said at a meeting with the media organized by the Association of Economic Journalists (APIE).
The investment plan will focus on the hydrocarbon exploration and production business (Upstream) and will pay less attention to Latin America than the current plan.
Brufau explained that Repsol YPF wants this region to lose weight and influence within the company as a whole in order to increase exposure in "what we could call OECD countries," which have "greater stability," such as Mexico.
"It's not about divesting in Latin America, where we have very good assets, but about growing in the rest of the world," he concluded.
In today's stock market session, the oil company's shares fell 0,71 percent and closed at 25,29 euros per share.
Brufau also referred to the ongoing talks to bring in a local private partner to the capital of his Argentine subsidiary YPF, a deal that will be finalized next year.
"I hope that in the first quarter of 2008 we can announce the agreement so that in the first half of the year we can make their incorporation a reality," he said.
The executive declined to name the new partner but assured that negotiations "are going well." Among the companies in talks with Repsol YPF is the Petersen Group, owned by businessman Enrique Eskenazi.
The advanced schedule will mean delaying the listing of approximately 20 percent of YPF, in order to carry out the two operations.
YPF's statutes require a takeover bid for 100% of the company if an investor buys more than 14,9% of it.
Repsol's "priority" is to have an industrial partner, so it is necessary to settle this matter first, to avoid the new shareholder having to launch a takeover bid for the shares of small investors who would have just participated in the public offering, he explained.
Brufau used a more severe tone when referring to the dispute he has with Sonatrach over the termination of the Gassi Touil gas contract.
The president stated that in this matter "the only ones harmed" have been Repsol YPF and Gas Natural and reiterated that he is prepared to assert his rights in the open arbitration process.
"We're the ones who are going to be asking for money. I don't quite understand this claim (from Sonatrach). The Algerian heritage is still there; we're the only ones who have lost anything. Did I take Algeria's gas?" he said indignantly.
On September 3, the Algerian state-owned company Sonatrach terminated the contract that was awarded in 2004 to Repsol YPF and Gas Natural in an international competition, claiming that the accumulated delays in the project had harmed it.
Brufau denounced that in the talks prior to the opening of the arbitration process, Sonatrach put forward "three or four things" unrelated to the project, such as the situation of the Medgaz gas pipeline or the review of the prices of the long-term gas contract between Algeria and Gas Natural.
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