OREANDA-NEWS. The make-up of state-controlled oil company YPF?s new board of directors exemplifies the profound political shift sparked by market-oriented president Mauricio Macri since he was inaugurated on 10 December.

A staunch critic of Argentina's previous government, led by flamboyant former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is now the influential representative of board?s golden share.

The appointment of former energy secretary Emilio Apud as representative for the state's Class A shares in the firm was made official late yesterday.

The outspoken Apud often denounced interventionist energy policies of Fernandez and her late husband and predecessor Nestor Kirchner. He was among eight former energy secretaries who regularly spoke up against government policy.

Apud, who served as energy secretary for one month in 2001 during the presidency of Fernando de la Rua, occupies the YPF board seat formerly held by Fernandez?s economy minister Axel Kicillof, widely seen as one of protagonists behind the government?s controversial 2012 expropriation of a majority stake in YPF from Spain's Repsol. Kicillof is now a lawmaker in the lower house of congress.

At the time, Macri had opposed the expropriation, and lawmakers from his PRO party voted against it, but during the campaign and now as president he has said he has no plans to reverse it.

Another member of the influential group of former energy secretaries, Daniel Montamat, was also appointed to the YPF board as one of the representatives of the company's Class D shares.

Montamat, who was energy secretary from December 1999 to August 2000 under De la Rua, runs an energy consultancy.

Other state-appointed board members representing Class D shares include Miguel Angel Gutierrez, former chief executive of the Argentinian unit of Spanish telecommunications firm Telefonica; Carlos Felices, former chief executive of the Argentinian unit of Italian telecommunications firm Telecom; and Fabian Rodriguez Simon, a lawyer and longtime legal adviser to Macri from his days as Buenos Aires city mayor.

The appointments are consistent with Macri?s recruitment of private-sector managers for key government positions.

The new tack could facilitate YPF's negotiations with oil companies seeking to invest in upstream joint ventures focused on Argentina?s rich shale formations.

YPF chief executive Miguel Galuccio, a former Schlumberger executive, looks likely to continue at the helm of the company at least until April, when the general shareholders meeting is scheduled to take place.

"At this time, we?re not thinking about making any kind of change" in Galuccio's position, energy and mining minister Juan Jose Aranguren said earlier this week. "What we?re doing is evaluating what the strategy has been in recent years and, more importantly, what will be done in the future."

Aranguren is the former head of Shell Argentina.

Separately, the board of directors approved an international bond issuance of up to $769mn.