Mexico Names New Pemex CEO Amid Slumping Natural Gas Production

By Andrew Baker and Christopher Lenton

on
Published in: Mexico Gas Price Index Filed under:

Mexico's oil and natural gas giant Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has named academic Victor Rodríguez Padilla as its new CEO.

Mexico natural gas

Rodríguez currently teaches post-graduate classes at Mexico’s Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). He will replace outgoing head Octavio Romero, who oversaw a heavily-indebted company that, over the past six years, struggled to hit oil and natural gas production goals.

Rodríguez “is a longtime academic, critical of any efforts to liberalize Mexico's oil and gas industry,” Mexico City-based energy consultant Gonzalo Monroy told NGI’s Mexico GPI. “He has an extensive record working as a legislative aide to several leftist politicians, which is where he crossed paths with Claudia Sheinbaum almost 30 years ago.”

Related Tags

Andrew Baker

Andrew joined NGI in 2018 to support coverage of Mexico’s newly liberalized oil and gas sector, and his role has since expanded to include the rest of North America. Before joining NGI, Andrew covered Latin America’s hydrocarbon and electric power industries from 2014 to 2018 for Business News Americas in Santiago, Chile. He speaks fluent Spanish, and holds a B.A. in journalism and mass communications from the University of Minnesota.

Christopher Lenton

Christopher joined NGI as a Senior Editor for Mexico and Latin America in November 2018. Prior to that, he was a Senior Editorial Manager at BNamericas in Santiago, Chile. Based out of Santiago, he has covered Latin American energy markets since 2009 as a reporter, editor and analyst. He has an MA in International Economic Policy from Columbia University and a BA in International Studies from Trinity College.