Venezuelan State Oil Firm Head Del Pino to Leave PdVSA to Rewrite Constitution
Executive has accepted president’s request and will abandon his post in the coming days
By
Anatoly Kurmanaev
Updated June 2, 2017 6:16 p.m. ET
CARACAS, Venezuela—T
he head of state-run Petróleos de Venezuela SA, Eulogio del Pino, is leaving the company to run for a special assembly charged with redrafting the country’s constitution, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro asked Mr. Del Pino on Thursday to run for the so-called Constituent Assembly, the person said. The oil executive has accepted the request and by law will abandon his post at the state oil company in the coming days.
The government has called the assembly elections for late July. Mr. Del Pino and PdVSA spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment.
By pushing out Mr. Del Pino, a veteran oil executive, Mr. Maduro is seeking to replace him with his loyalists and give himself greater control of the scarce state resources, said Eurasia Group analyst Risa Grais-Targow.
As the economy and his popularity plummeted, Mr. Maduro has made numerous changes since January to his cabinet, the central bank and the board of PdVSA, which provides practically all of the country’s hard currency through its oil exports.
It is unclear who will replace Mr. Del Pino at PdVSA. Bloomberg first reported his looming departure in March.
Venezuelan oil industry insiders believe energy minister Nelson Martinez is the top contender for the job. A spokeswoman for Mr. Martinez didn’t respond to request for comment.
Mr. Del Pino cultivated the role of a technocrat loyal to the government as he climbed PdVSA’s corporate ladder over his three decades at the company. He became president in 2014, inheriting a firm struggling with falling production and investment, and a crippling brain drain.
Under Mr. Del Pino’s term, the country’s oil output fell 16%, contributing to its unprecedented economic crisis.
His presidency was also plagued by corruption scandals in PdVSA at home and abroad. Several PdVSA contractors have been jailed in the U.S. on charges of bribery and fraud in the past year, and more corruption probes of the company are under way in that country.
But Mr. Del Pino also made efforts to boost foreign investment, giving foreign oil companies greater autonomy over operations and finances in joint ventures. He staunchly supported honoring Venezuela’s debt commitments despite
worsening food shortages, earning praise from Wall Street analysts.
Mr. Del Pino has also worked on rebuilding relations with local oil contractors after years of expropriations and unpaid bills.
“We have to move towards a new model with the private sector, and this means recognizing our errors,” Mr. Del Pino said in a speech to a business chamber in July.
Such pro-market tendencies have distanced Mr. Del Pino from the increasingly radical administration of Mr. Maduro, said Ms. Grais-Targow. The president is doubling down on state controls and repression to quell daily
mass protests that have left at least 60 people dead.
“It’s like Maduro is sending him to the gulag,” Ms. Grais-Targow said. “But Maduro could also be trying to give the process some credibility.”
Venezuelan opposition has said the assembly would eliminate the last vestiges of democracy, and promised to boycott the elections and maintain street protests to oust Mr. Maduro.
—Mayela Armas and Kejal Vyas contributed to this article.
Write to Anatoly Kurmanaev at
Anatoly.kurmanaev@wsj.com
