
Miguel Galuccio is an Argentine businessman born on April 23, 1968, in Paraná, Argentina (55 years old). He works as a petroleum engineer in Vaca Muerta, a geological formation that includes several pipelines, including oil, in his country.
Galuccio, trained in engineering, has always focused on petroleum-related topics, and since 2017 he has served as President and CEO of Vista Oil & Gas. This company, which he founded with other entrepreneurs, operates in Vaca Muerta and complements its operations.
How did Miguel Galuccio begin?
Galuccio is the oldest of his siblings and completed primary and secondary school in Paraná. One of his first big changes came when he moved to Buenos Aires to pursue a degree in engineering, focusing on petroleum.
In an interview, the man from Paraná said that his university experience and ambition opened his mind and led him to work abroad. His first job was in the United States, at an oil field.
Oil fields are reserves where rocks accumulate and form gas or oil, making them valuable sources and resources for entrepreneurs or professionals in this sector.
By the mid-90s, as he approached 30, Miguel already had a child, and his life would change dramatically with the appearance of another company: YPF.
The appearance of YPF
YPF, an Argentine company, was Galuccio’s major professional experience in the late 1990s. At that time, the Argentine firm had been purchased by Maxus Energy, a U.S.-based company, and the engineer was transferred from southern Argentina to the United States.
In 1998, a major opportunity came for Miguel. Maxus Energy appointed the man from Paraná to lead a petroleum project in Indonesia. Those years were intense for Miguel, who lived through war conflicts in Indonesia and then moved on to Iraq.
Galuccio moved to another country after another company acquired YPF and began working for Schlumberger, which had services in multiple countries.
In another interview, the Paraná native commented that working across many cultures allowed him to experience diverse work teams and become more deeply involved with oil fields.
Those long years of experience were highly valuable for Miguel. Later, he became a production manager and began overseeing operations across Central America.
Return to Argentina and leading YPF
After spending several years in London, England, Miguel Galuccio was appointed president and CEO of YPF in Argentina, which happened in 2012.
Galuccio returned to YPF Argentina during a nationalization process that marked his return to the country. The engineer stated in various articles that his first months at the company were challenging due to the country’s unstable energy situation.
Galuccio and a group of others founded Vista Oil & Gas, a separate company that complements the Argentine firm to boost energy investment.
This new company, which later changed its name to Vista, became the second highest-grossing company in Vaca Muerta.
One of the key issues addressed by Galuccio and his partners was environmental care.
Vista began incorporating concepts such as sustainability and environmental conservation. Their goal is to reduce carbon footprints, one of the pollutants contributing to the climate crisis.
Vaca Muerta
Vaca Muerta is a sacred place for Argentines. It is a reservoir with highly valuable resources in the oil sector, and Galuccio was assigned to work with this site through his recently founded company.
Today, this region remains at the center of these discussions, and Vaca Muerta is vital to Argentine investors who protect the reservoir at all costs.
Vaca Muerta is so important that one of the aspirations of Galuccio’s team and company is to produce millions of barrels of oil to export and sell internationally. This area is extremely significant due to the gas it supplies to Argentina.
Present day
Galuccio’s outstanding work in recent years earned him the presidency of the Argentine Center of Engineers, in addition to receiving multiple awards.
He has also participated in several international conferences where he presented the strengths of Vaca Muerta. For years now, he has been involved in talks about oil fields and the petroleum sector. Nationally, he has been recognized for promoting and boosting the energy sector.
Miguel has two children. One is already focused on the petroleum industry like his father, while his daughter is oriented toward social work and the environment.