Martin Pérez de Solay

Martin Pérez de Solay

President, Petroleos Sudamericanos Energy

After successfully restructuring Citi’s portfolio in Argentina which was impacted by the “2001 Corralito crisis” Martin Pérez de Solay decided to endeavor new horizons to further develop his engineering knowledge and general management skills.

September 2011-today: President & CEO Petróleos Sudamericanos Energy S.A.

The mandate from the Grupo IF, a Spanish-owned group, was to create an E&P company, leveraging on existing assets. With a portfolio of mature assets that were quickly approaching the end of the concession periods in both Argentina and Ecuador, the challenge was to attract an experienced and successful management team to meet the mandate and boost the profitability of the existing operations.

Among the most important achievements was the successful extension of the concessions in Argentina for 10 years which involved long and difficult negotiations with two administrations in the provinces of Rio Negro and Neuquén.

Soon after reaching a production of 10,000 barrels per day from the Ecuatorian fields, the Government made an amendment to the national constitution that forced the Grupo IF to sell its oil & gas operations in that country. I led and completed a successful asset divestiture process which involved many international companies, securing approvals from local regulatory authorities.

In 2013, the Colombian Petróleos Sudamericanos branch was created to operate three mature fields acquired from Ecopetrol and an additional exploration block. The challenges involved the creation of a team from scratch in a new country to quickly bring the fields into production. In less than three years, seismic and drilling campaigns were completed, a 20MMCFD gas plant was installed and the production grew from 0 to 6,000 BOE per day. Strong relationships were developed with large local and international banks and a good reputation was gained as a responsible operator in the local environment and with both government and regulatory authorities.

During the last two years, given the sharp reduction in the oil price, I've led the restructuring of the operations and financings to ensure that all assets were profitable and that the company was self-sustainable in such a difficult environment.  Petróleos Sudamericanos emerged strengthened from this crisis, with increased production, a better cost structure, reduced indebtedness and a significant positive Ebitda.

As of today, Petróleos Sudamericanos is back on the growth track, shooting 3D seismic, drilling development oil and gas wells and acquiring four new strategic oil and gas producing areas in Argentina, during 2018, aiming to reach a production in excess of 12,000 boed in 2019.

Martin Pérez de Solay is speaking at the 2018 South America Energy Week on the ‘Colombia: Investment Opportunities in Offshore & Conventional Onshore' panel.