How about filling in the blanks?
MADRID (AP) — Shares of Spanish energy firm Repsol …………….. (fall) sharply Tuesday after Argentina ……………. (unveil) plans to nationalize the company's extensive Argentine oil operations.
Repsol YPF SA president Antonio Brufau ……………. (tell) reporters that the company will mount a legal fight against the plan to seize control of YPF and ……………. (accuse) the Argentine government of ……………. (launch) the move in order to quell rising unrest at home.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez "……………. (carry) out an unlawful act and ……………. (make) unlawful charges after a campaign aimed at ……………. (knock) down YPF shares and ……………. (allow) expropriation at a bargain price," Brufau ……………. (tell) reporters.
Repsol YPF SA shares ……………. (sink) 4.7 percent Tuesday morning in Madrid to €16.66 each, underperforming the benchmark Ibex index, which was up 1.4 percent.
Spain's government ……………. (back) Repsol in its fight amid deteriorating relations with Argentina, and ……………. (seek) to line up allies to contest the move and possibly isolate Argentina economically.
In her national address Monday, Fernandez ……………. (say) the legislation put to congress ……………. (give) Argentina a majority stake in YPF — Argentina's largest company — by ……………. (take) control of 51 percent of its shares held by Repsol.
YPF ……………. (be) vital for Argentina's energy future, especially after a recent find of huge unconventional oil and natural gas reserves.
Argentina this year ……………. (expect) to import more than $10 billion worth of gas and natural liquid gas to address an energy crisis even though it is an oil-producing nation, according to estimates from the hydrocarbon sector.
Spain strongly ……………. (oppose) the nationalization plan and ……………. (warn) that it ……………. (turn) Argentina into an international pariah. The country ……………. (be) the largest foreign investor in Argentina, ahead of the United States.
Brufau ……………. (tell) reporters that YPF ……………. (be) worth $18.3 billion, and he ……………. (value) Repsol's stake at $10.5 billion.
YPF shares ……………. (plunge) in value since February, when Fernandez' administration ……………. (mount) the campaign that ……………. (lead) to Monday's nationalization announcement.
The decision by Fernandez "……………. (be) only a way of covering up the social and economic crisis Argentina ……………. (face)" amid high inflation and energy prices, Brufau said.
Brufau also ……………. (accuse) Fernandez of ……………. (be) "an expert manipulator" in her accusations that YPF had underfunded the unit, saying that Repsol ……………. (invest) $20 million in Argentina since it ……………. (buy) YPF in 1999.
Associated Press writer Jorge Sainz contributed from Madrid.
