Miguel Galuccio sat quietly with a nervous smile as Argentina's president suddenly thrust the youthful oil executive from obscurity into one of the nation's most high-pressure jobs: leading the newly state-controlled energy company.

As political leaders applauded, an even younger man sitting beside him, Axel Kicillof, draped his arm around Galuccio's shoulders, sending an unmistakable message that the president herself reinforced: Together, these men will manage the nation's top priority right now, YPF SA, the new symbol of Argentina's government-guided economy.

"The idea is essentially to create an YPF that is absolutely modern, competitive, with professional people, but with political leadership, intent on returning energy self-sufficiency to the Argentine Republic," President Cristina Fernandez said at Friday's ceremony.

Galuccio is the professional Fernandez hoped for when she decided to take back the company that had been in the hands of Spain's Repsol SA for 13 years.