CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced the appointment of the current head of state-oil company PDVSA, Eulogio del Pino, as the new Oil and Mining Minister.
Del Pino replaces Asdrubal Chavez and will combine his new job with his responsibility as PDVSA chief, said the Venezuelan government in its radio and television program ‘In Contact with Maduro’.
The president also announced the appointment of Manuel Quevedo as Minister of Housing and Habitat, replacing Ricardo Molina, who like Asdrubal Chavez, will be presented as a ruling party candidate in parliamentary elections on Dec. 6.
The appointment of del Pino as Oil minister once again unites the two oil posts separated since September 2014.
Del Pino, who at the time was the Vice President of PDVSA, took over the reigns of the state oil company, headed by Rafael Ramirez since 2002.
The new Oil Minister, also a geophysical engineer from the Central University of Venezuela and who has master’s degree from the U.S. University of Stanford has been part of the PDVSA board of directors since 2005.
After the announcement of the appointment, Maduro stressed del Pino “is part of a generation of Venezuelan and world oil experts.”
