I've been reading and researching a lot about this lately, and I found some interesting data.
In 1995, before the privatization, YPF investments in oil explorations were larger than Petrobrás' (Brazilian state oil company): U$ 2.36 billion x U$ 2.14 billion. Also, the average costs of prospections were way lower in Argentina than in Brazil (where most part of the oil comes from deep waters). By that year, both countries had practically the same level of daily production: 720,000 oil barrels.
After the privatization, the investments in the YPF only dropped, not only in comparison to Petrobrás', but also in absolute numbers: in 1998, Petrobrás invested U$ 3.8 billion, while YPF investd U$ 1.5 billion (only 63% of what it had invested three years before).
In 2003, Petrobrás investments grew to U$ 5.6 billion. In the same year, YPF investments dropped even more, to U$ 819 million.
In 2011, Petrobrás investments reached U$ 37 billion. YPF's, U$ 2.8 billion (10% less than in 1995, discounting the inflation).
In the second half of the 1990s, oil was cheap, but Petrobrás was purchasing a national policy of reduction of foreign dependence of imported oil, investing heavely in production, despite its profits being quite lower in comparison to global oil market. At the same time, instead of being a tool for the development of the Argentine nation, YPF was merely used as a "milking cow". Repsol only purchased the quickest profit possible. There was absolutely no interest in long term investments. Even when the price of the oil barrel started to grow in the middle of the 2000s, Repsol - heavily indebted - continued with its policy of few investments in Argentina, using YPF only for repatriation of profits.
For Argentina, the outcome was a catastrophic failure of its oil system.
Between 2003 and 2011, Petrobrás's production jumped from 1.8 million barrels to 2.6 million barrels, making Brazil become self-sufficient in oil. The reserves grew from 9.2 billion of barrels to 15 billion of barrels (not considering the pre-salt reserves, which could sum 150 billion barrels). Argentina's reserves, on the other hand, dropped from 3 billion of barrels to 2.4 billion of barrels. YPF's daily production fell from 329,000 of barrels in 2003 (which is already less than half of their daily production a decade earlier) to 194,000 of barrels in 2011.
The result: Argentina, which used to sell oil to Brazil and traditionally enjoyed a sizeable surplus in oil trade, nowadays has to import oil. Their surplus was replaced by a deficit of U$ 4.1 billion in 2011 and is estimated to grow to U$ 7 billion in 2012.
If that is not "damaging the Argentine economy", I don't know what it is.
If there is some contribution from the Spanish corporations "investing" in Latin America, it's defintely the fact they are proving that the neoliberal myth of private companies being more profitable, organized, and competent than public companies is 100% bullshit. I hope Telefónica is the next. I can't stand their incompetence any longer.
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