Caracas — Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday appointed Ninoska La Concha as new head of state petrochemical company Pequiven, replacing oil minister Pedro Tellechea, who since March had held three key positions supervising the country’s energy industry.
Following a wide anti-corruption effort in the energy sector that led to the arrest of some 40 officials and businessmen, Maduro accepted the resignation of then powerful oil minister Tareck El Aissami, appointing Tellechea as minister and keeping him also as president of state companies Pequiven and PDVSA.
La Concha’s appointment, which was published in the Official Gazette and announced by Tellechea on social media, limits the scope of Tellechea’s role, whose main target is to double the OPEC nation’s crude output to some 1.7 million barrels per day by 2024.
Pequiven is key for Venezuela’s cash flow by providing proceeds from exports of petrochemical products, including methanol, urea and ammonia. La Concha was previously the head of one of Pequiven’s subsidiaries, the Barranquilla-based Monomeros Colombo Venezolanos.
(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago, writing by Marianna Parraga, editing by Chris Reese) – Reuters
Follow us on twitter
