Repsol calls board meeting to ratify chairman

Spain's Repsol has called a board meeting for January 15 to decide whether the oil group's chairman Antonio Brufau stays at his post, the company said on Wednesday.

Since Brufau took office in 2004, Repsol has turned around its petroleum resources after years of declining reserves thanks to multi-billion euro investments in its upstream division.

But the head of the company's largest shareholder, Sacyr Vallehermoso, openly criticised the company's decision to reduce its 2009 interim dividend. Sacyr is burdened by heavy debt servicing costs.

Repsol still needs several years to develop most of its impressive string of recent discoveries before they start making money for the company.

Repsol will rate the current management of the company according to the advances made in its 2008-2012 strategic plan, the company said in a statement to stockmarket regulator CNMV.