The Argentine government confirmed Daniel González as the new Secretary of Coordination for Energy and Mining.

The Argentine government has officially appointed former YPF CEO Daniel González as the new Secretary of Energy and Mining Coordination, joining Luis Caputo 's cabinet at the Ministry of Economy. The appointment stems from a decision by the Minister of Economy aimed at increasing his influence over national energy policies and decisions. "González is Caputo's right-hand man and came to the government to manage and address certain issues and disarray within the Energy Secretariat and the Mining Secretariat, headed by Eduardo Rodriguez Chirillo and Luis Enrique Lucero , respectively," sources close to Energía Estratégica stated. "He had already been working within the Ministry of Economy for several weeks; only the formal appointment was pending."

"Now that he has the formal position, he will surely make official decisions," they explained. This means the new official will have the same rank as the current Secretary of Energy and could influence future measures, considering some internal issues amidst the electricity market reform and the corresponding regulatory changes proposed by the Executive Branch. Among these modifications are those embodied in the "Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentinians" law, which approved the declaration of an energy emergency, the complete privatization of Energía Argentina (ENARSA), and reforms to Laws No. 15,336 and 24,065 in order to liberalize the marketing, competition, and expansion of the electricity market, especially the free choice of electricity provider for end users. With this, the Executive Branch intends to "adjust" energy system tariffs so that they reflect the real cost of supply and promote the explicit breakdown of the different charges payable by the end user, with distributors acting as collection or withholding agents for the amounts owed for energy and transmission. and taxes corresponding to the MEM and the Treasury. González will also be part of the Project Evaluation Committee for the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), created last Tuesday, September 3, through Resolution 814/2024 , to accept or reject submitted proposals. In this way, the former CEO of YPF will join the heads of the Secretariat of Strategic and Regulatory Planning of the Presidency of the Nation and the Secretariats of Production, Infrastructure, Finance, Treasury, and Legal and Administrative Affairs of the Ministry of Economy.

While Rodríguez Chirillo was left off the list, despite the potential importance of the RIGI (Regional Energy Management Unit) in the development of new electric transmission lines, renewable energy generation projects, and green hydrogen production, sources close to this news portal predicted, "changes and new definitions are likely coming to the sector." It's worth noting that Alberto Fernández 's presidential administration had an entity responsible for organizing Energy Undersecretariats and government ministries regarding the policies implemented by the Energy Secretariat, but this entity was discontinued after Javier Milei 's government took office: the Undersecretariat of Institutional Coordination of Energy, headed by Guillermo Usandivaras from July 2021 to November 2022, and by María Florencia Álvarez Travieso from November 2022 to December 2023. Daniel González's background: He is a specialist trained at Cardinal Newman School —as was Luis Caputo—and holds a degree in Business Administration from the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) .

He joined YPF in 2012 after the company's nationalization and held various positions, including Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and later acting as interim CEO. But before his time at the oil company, he worked at Merrill Lynch/Bank of America in Buenos Aires and New York.

And later he did the same as executive director of the Institute for Business Development of Argentina (IDEA).