The legal team at the heart of the Argentine state-owned oil company YPF provides legal support across the full spectrum of the organisation’s supply chain, which includes oil and gas exploration and production, and the transportation, refining and marketing of gas and petroleum products. Besides highlighting the team’s work to protect YPF’s interests and competitive position during negotiations with a major international oil company, sources praised the team’s resolve and determination in facilitating YPF’s recent acquisition of a 120MW power plant from Central Puerto, as well as its acquisition of a 50% stake in Petrofaro.

YPF’s legal team is led by experienced corporate lawyer Germán Fernández Lahore, who has successfully navigated the department through significant changes in the Argentine oil industry, including a 2012 renationalisation order which saw the government of Argentina take a 51% controlling stake in YPF. Other exceptional lawyers highlighted in this year’s research include senior counsel for exploration & production María Luján Carrodani, senior legal counsel Francisco Gáspariand and downstream legal services manager Fabián Carlos Valle.