Venezuela's contested president Nicolás Maduro will make big changes to the top leadership at the state-owned oil giant, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), and the oil ministry, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Tuesday. The move follows the controversial presidential election that has threatened the country's political stability.
Maduro is expected to replace PDVSA's current CEO, Pedro Rafael Tellechea, with its current vice president, anonymous sources have said. Maduro appointed Tellechea to head PDVSA in early January 2023 and later as Venezuela's Oil Minister following the March 2023 resignation of Tareck El Aissami. El Aissami found himself embroiled in an extensive corruption probe involving oil cargoes that allegedly left the country without payments being made.
According to sources, Tellechea, who was ostensibly installed to root out corruption in the state-run company, was recently ordered to perform an audit of his time at PDVSA. To that end, he requested detailed reports from division chiefs on his achievements. However, sources suggest that despite his efforts to combat corruption and rally support among the company's workforce, Maduro plans to make a leadership change.
The shakeup follows the highly publicized disputed presidential election that was held last month. Although the National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner, opposition leaders claim that they have had access to 90% of the votes, and by their count, Edmundo Gonzalez won twice as many votes as Maduro. Deadly protests and a heightened state of political instability ensued following Maduro's claim of victory. It has also led to the forced resignations of numerous public sector employees, including those at PDVSA and the oil ministry.
In the run-up to the election, Maduro communicated to Washington that he was willing to restart talks with the United States about the lifting of sanctions against the country.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More