NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 7, 2002-- The laws and regulations for the Argentine oil&gas sector are undergoing profound and continuous changes. Standard&Poor's has received a large number of inquiries about credit trends in the sector, particularly on two recent opinions of the Procurador General del Tesoro (the legal Counsel of the Republic of Argentina) against the ability of oil producing companies to continue to freely dispose of up to 70% of export proceeds. As mentioned in prior articles, Standard&Poor's already factors into its ratings some degree of increasing government intervention, and the negative effects on profitability and cash flow protection measures derived from lower realization prices (due to implicit or explicit taxes).
