Some careers are measured in years, and others in the mark they leave. For Lourdes Guiñazú, her more than 25 years in the energy industry are merely the foundation of a more ambitious mission: shaping the future from the classroom.
Between the halls of the National University of Cuyo and the operational complexity of oil reservoirs, Lourdes has successfully blended technical expertise with a passion for teaching that today influences new generations of engineers in Argentina.
Her training as a Petroleum Processing Engineer and a specialist in Project Management from the same institution, combined with a certificate in leadership from the IESE Business School in Spain, laid the foundations for a career with global reach.
With a career spanning eight countries—from Argentina and Brazil to the United States—Lourdes has led commercial expansion and operational management in the region’s most demanding markets, where she has been recognized in multiple organizations for leading large-scale multidisciplinary teams. Today, she is a Manager at Halliburton.
At the same time, her commitment to the energy community is reflected in her tireless work within the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). She has been a key figure in leadership roles, from serving as president of the SPE Patagonia Section to her work as a leader in Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). Her strategic vision earned her the 2021 Regional Management Award for Latin America and the Caribbean.
As a leader, she is organizing the first “Energython – From Molecule to Megabyte” competition. This “Shark Tank”-style competition is for students from Latin America and the Caribbean who belong to SPE student chapters.
Students will present a techno-economic model to supply energy to a data center (with a demand of 10–20 MW) using a natural gas-fired power plant.
Proposals must cover the supply chain, power generation technologies, contractual agreements, and financial models. The five best entries will be selected to advance to the regional final, and the winning team will move on to the global round.
