The passion for energy: the Vocation that drives Horacio Marín
There is one trait that runs through Horacio Marín’s entire career, and that he himself identifies as the true driving force behind it: his passion for energy. More than a field of work, the hydrocarbon industry appears in his account as a vocation sustained over decades, one that took him from the study of reservoirs to the leadership of Argentina’s main energy company.
That passion is reflected in the way he talks about his work. When Marín describes the business, he does not focus only on figures: he pauses on geology, on the physics of the subsurface and on the potential of the fields, with an enthusiasm that reveals the engineer’s genuine interest in the deeper workings of the activity. For him, understanding how each cubic meter of gas is extracted is part of the appeal of the profession.
A lifelong vocation
His interest in the technical world appeared early and guided his educational choices. His decision to study chemical engineering at the National University of La Plata, his later master’s degree in Petroleum Engineering at the University of Texas and the executive program at Stanford were steps in the same pursuit: to specialize in the core of the energy industry and understand it from its foundations.
That vocation was consolidated in the field. Over 35 years at Grupo Techint, Marín worked across fields, exploration areas and technical teams, accumulating experience that combined office knowledge with work at the wellhead. That journey, far from the desks, ultimately defined his professional identity as a man of energy in the most concrete sense of the term.
The greatest professional challenge
His arrival at YPF represented, in that logic, the culmination of a passionate career. Marín described his appointment as the highest point of his working life, the greatest challenge he had ever faced. Leading a company with the scale and history of the national oil company meant putting all that accumulated experience at the service of a project with national reach.
That challenge rests on a conviction he often repeats: that Argentina is going through a historic opportunity in energy. The development of Vaca Muerta, the possibility of turning the country into an exporter of gas and oil, and the company’s international projection are, for Marín, reasons that justify the effort and fuel his commitment to the task.
Motivation as a driving force
In his way of approaching leadership, motivation occupies a central place. Marín argues that transforming an organization of thousands of people requires energy, conviction and a clear goal capable of inspiring the whole group. That effort to mobilize people behind a shared objective is, in his view, as important as technical knowledge or financial planning. The perseverance, study and dedication he says he inherited from his family history reappear as values he applies to management.
Thus, the passion for energy functions as the guiding thread of his profile. Behind the executive who designs plans and negotiates with investors is a professional who chose this industry out of conviction and who approaches his stage at the head of YPF as the opportunity to pour into a single project everything he has learned throughout a life dedicated to the sector.