Repsol’s retreat from Latin America appears – finally – to be under way. Reports in recent weeks have linked financier Enrique Eskenazi, a close pal of Argentina’s new president, to a potential purchase of 15 per cent of YPF, Repsol’s Argentine subsidiary, with an option for another 10 per cent. If the company goes ahead with plans next year to offer another 20 per cent to the public, it will have slashed its exposure to a region that has been nothing but trouble since it sank $15bn there in 1999.

The Spanish major is clearly keen to sell: it may be financing half of Mr Eskenazi’s purchase itself, if the local press is to be believed. A full restructuring, including the sale of other regional assets, could free up about $12bn, or about a quarter of the group’s market capitalisation, to invest in more promising areas such as the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and Angola.