MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

A successful oil and gas engineer with global experience, YPF next CEO

Miguel Galuccio until last April was working for Schlumberger in London

A drilling engineer with a long experience in the oil and gas industry Miguel Galuccio, 44, will be taking over as of next Monday as manager of the nationalized YPF corporation, announced on Friday Argentine President Cristina Fernandez.

“Miguel will work for an efficient, competitive, modern YPF with professional management but with a political orientation”, said CFK at Casa Rosada following the enacting of the law that takes over a commanding 51% of YPF.

Galuccio until a month ago was president of IPM (Integrated Project Management) of London based Schlumberger and was presented to Cristina Fernandez by the governor from the Province of Entre Rios, where he was born.

Galuccio must prepare by next June 4 a complete audit and detail of assets, liabilities and reserves of the nationalized corporation to be presented at the assembly of shareholders. The Argentine president admitted having met Galuccio for the first time in her Santa Cruz province residence of El Calafate.

According to Ambito Financiero, Galuccio resigned from the IMP project last 16 April which means negotiations had long started. “He was recruited with sufficient time to consider the proposal, present his conditions, having them accepted and ensuring his project was compatible with that of the Argentine government”.

According to his CV, Galuccio is an expert in exploration and drilling having proved his skills in all continents. Apparently he is also an expert in new technologies that ensure profitable oil and gas extraction from deposits thought to be exhausted.

He graduated as Hydrocarbons engineer at Buenos Aires Petroleum Technological Institute and was contracted to work in YPF back in 1994 with the private management of the state owned company. He was hand picked by Jose Estensoro, the most successful YPF CEO when the company was drilling over 600 wells annually and was immensely profitable.

When YPF took over the US Maxus Energy, which was broke and under administration, Galuccio transformed the company into the international branch of YPF. In 1998 YPF won a contract to operate in Indonesia and with a team of experts headed by Galuccio turned allegedly depleted or marginal wells into a successful operation with the implementation of new technologies.

The following year when Repsol takes over YPF, Galuccio resigns as is immediately contracted by Schlumberger a leading group in oil and gas services, and becomes general manager for Mexico and Central America.

He rapidly turned Schlumberger into Pemex (Mexican state oil corporation) main strategic and technologic partner and in 2005 is named IPM president, which is Schlumberger’s main department for integrated projects and leader in that industry in the world. Galuccio expanded IPM geographically and in its global ranking.
In 2011 he was head named head of Schlumberger Production Management, operating from London.