Argentina on Monday urged London's High Court to pause enforcement of a $16 billion-plus United States court judgment over the expropriation of oil and gas company YPF , pending an appeal by the Argentinian government in the U.

The fate of Argentina’s state-run oil company has been thrown into doubt as a U.S. judge ordered the cash-strapped country to give up its 51% controlling stake in YPF

The turnover of the shares comes after a Manhattan judge ruled in 2023 that Argentina owed $16 billion to former minority stakeholders after it expropriated shares in the country’s biggest oil and gas company.