Argentina moves to take over Repsol's YPF

Argentine President said she will sign a decree to intervene immediately in energy company YPF, appointing the country's planning minister to oversee operations.

Her government is sending a bill to Congress to expropriate 51 percent of YPF, which is controlled by Spain's Repsol.

Following are views from analysts:

Michael Henderson, emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, London:

"We see this as a negative for Argentina's already poor long-term investment prospects and believe that this could spark a partial withdrawal of locally based foreign operators across other sectors. The bigger picture, of course, is that Argentina's economic 'model' looks to be unraveling."

Irene Himona, an oil and gas analyst at Societe Generale, London

"Expropriation can mean anything, it can mean 'I pay you nothing,' 'I pay you book value' or 'I pay you some number.' We need to see more detail before we can determine the impact on Repsol."

Boris Segura, economist at Nomura Securities In New York

"This move is likely to deter foreign direct investment sorely needed to develop Argentina's vast energy resources."

Buenos Aires-based economist Manuel Alvarado Ledesma

"It's a hard blow against investment. The expropriation damages Argentina's institutional framework and shows that the government's economic policies are driven by political opportunism."

Ignacio Labaqui, local analyst for New York-based Consultancy Medley Global Advisors:

"Although the government grounds its decision in the decline in both production and reserves, it is hard to see how the entry of the national and provincial administrations, which lack the resources required to make the necessary investments to develop unconventional resources, will improve Argentina's energy situation."

"It is yet to be seen whether today's decision affects other companies' investments plans. Certainly, YPF's expropriation does little to improve the already poor investment climate."

Gary Kleiman Of Washington-based emerging markets Consultancy Kleiman International:

"Argentina is already the worst-performing MSCI frontier equity market and will fall further on the seizure of YPF."