CHEVRON Corp’s Argentina subsidiary ran full-page ads in the nation’s leading newspapers yesterday saying that its operations have been complicated by a court order freezing its earnings.

A judge in Buenos Aires embargoed Chevron’s Argentina earnings, acting on behalf of plaintiffs in Ecuador who are trying to collect a US$19-billion judgement they won over oil spills in the Amazon. Both Chevron and the Ecuadorean plaintiffs have accused each other of committing fraud in the case.

The environmental judgement is only the latest trouble Chevron is facing in Argentina, where it has become a leading partner of the state-controlled YPF SA oil company since President Cristina Fernandez expropriated it from Grupo Repsol in Spain.

Repsol has sued in Madrid accusing Chevron and YPF of unfair competition, for drilling for shale oil and gas in the “Vaca Muerta” basin that was discovered when Repsol ran the company.

Repsol also is suing Argentina at the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, seeking US$10 billion in compensation for the controlling stake in YPF that Fernandez seized, and said it would sue any other international oil company that tries to partner with YPF.

“I don’t see the future of Chevron in Argentina as very auspicious under these conditions. They can turn it around, but it’s difficult,” said Emilio Apud, a former Argentine energy secretary who now works as a consultant. “The numbers just won’t add up, and if they had a hope of future profits in Argentina from Vaca Muerta, that too is in doubt.”

Chevron’s ad called the Ecuadorean judgement fraudulent, and said that “we are seeking the lifting of this embargo as soon as possible, to avoid its negative impacts on the country, the government, the company, and the energy future of Argentina.”