Argentina’s Energy Secretary Eduardo Chirillo resigned on Thursday for “personal and professional reasons” and will be replaced by María Tettamanti, the general manager of the NRG Argentina mining services company.

“Today, I received [Chirillo’s] resignation as Secretary of Energy. He told me that given the health problems he has been having, and that although he is now feeling much better, he will need more time for himself,” Economy Minister Luis Caputo posted on X.

Chirillo was asked to remain in the ministry as a consultant, Caputo added.

Caputo also thanked Chirillo for being a “fundamental pillar in these first months of government” and said the former minister collaborated in writing the Ley Bases.

“The personal sacrifice he has made all these months, and which I have witnessed, is an example of patriotism that elevates his human and professional conditions even more,” Caputo added.

Chirillo said he would “continue to support the government and the president from the most convenient place possible.”

Chirillo served as an Energy Secretariat consultant from 1995 to 1996 during Carlos Menem’s presidency. After that, in 2001, he moved to Mexico where he held a management position in the Spanish multinational energy company Iberdrola. He also played a role in Spanish President José María Aznar’s (1996-2004) plan to privatize state-owned companies.

His replacement, María Tettamanti, is the general manager of NRG Argentina, a mining company that produces sand suitable for hydraulic fracturing operations (fracking) in Argentina’s unconventional oil and gas reservoirs — that is, Vaca Muerta. She also worked at Camuzzi and Metrogas, two companies providing gas to consumers. Tettamanti advised current Security Minister Patricia Bullrich during her presidential campaign on energy matters.

NRG Argentina congratulated Tettamanti, saying she “has been a key player in the company’s growth and the consolidation of several projects.”

Among Tettamanti’s future tasks are managing potential power cuts in the summer, decreasing energy subsidies, increasing tariffs, and bidding on infrastructure works for the development of Vaca Muerta.