Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced a restructuring of state oil company PDVSA, replacing Rafael Ramirez with Eulogio del Pino.
Del Pino, former exploration and production chief, will take the reigns as the new president of the Venezuelan state oil company.
Del Pino's appointment was not altogether unexpected. "He is a seasoned PDVSA executive and he has been directly involved in managing PDVSA in its role as the main source of cash for the government," Adrian Lara, GlobalData senior upstream analyst - Americas, explained.
Asdrubal Chavez, former PDVSA vice president, was appointed as the minister of Energy and Oil.
Ramirez, former PDVSA president and vice president of Finance, will now serve as the minister of Foreign Affairs. He will oversee four ministries, including the Ministry of Defense.
Maduro commended Ramirez for his years of service, saying he “spent 12 years in charge of the oil policy of the (Bolivarian) Revolution, rescuing our industry from the clutches of the oligarchic and imperialist meritocracy."
Maduro named Rodolfo Marco Torres the new minister of Economy, Finance and Public Banking. He will assume leadership of the economic team that includes ministries of energy and oil, now in charge of Asdrubal Chavez.
In addition to the restructuring, Maduro says there are five structural changes, or revolutions, that will be enforced to help Venezuela's country plan. He announced changes to the following areas: economic; political; knowledge (awareness); missions advancing the socialist revolution; and the reinforcement of socialist values within the country. He also said these revolutions, seemingly geared towards advancing the socialist system former president Hugo Chavez enacted, would define the near future, or next stage, of the country.
Adrian Lara explains that the government might be trying to resolve multiple issues.
"In the context of the current economic and political crisis, it looks to me as an attempt for trying to improve the credibility of the government. However, from what I have gathered so far, it looks as mainly a reallocation of bureaucrats and the creation of some new executive related agencies," he said. "It also seems that these movements are trying to cope with internal dynamics of different factions within the Chavista regime."
Lara also noted that, "ideologically, they keep the same narrative of the Bolivarian revolution."
PDVSA entered into agreements with Rosneft in July 2014 on phase II of the Mariscal Sucre project, to implement offshore projects in the Rio-Caribe and Mejillones blocks. The agreed to a joint venture for well drilling, well infrastructure development, and to provide any services related to the procurement of equipment, devices, materials and services within Rosneft / PDVSA joint projects.
In addition, the companies agreed to extend the Petrovictoria JV establishment and operation agreement with the purpose of prolonging the Carabobo-2 project entry bonus agreement.
Image of Maduro from the Venezuelan Embassy
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