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Thursday, 4 May 2006
Operator’s Perspective Luncheon Series: Venezuela´s Strategy for the Worldwide Energy Balance
Hon. Rafael Ramirez Carreno, Minister of Energy and Mines, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and President, PDVSA
Speaker Profile
Rafael Ramírez Carreño began his career in the oil industry with Intevep, Petróleos de Venezuela’s research and development subsidiary, where he was initially assigned to work on the handling of Orinoco Belt extra-heavy crudes. Further assignments and postings to other subsidiaries provided him with a wide experience in the development, coordination and management of engineering and construction projects. His secondments abroad included the development, in the United States, of the Cardón refinery’s upgrading and expansion project and Nigeria’s Liquefied Natural Gas project, in France. Ramírez was the founding president of Enagas, the national gas entity charged with the responsibility of structuring the National Gas Plan and the design, development and promotion of the State policies for the sector. In February 2002 he was appointed external director of Petróleos de Venezuela, and in July that year was sworn in as Minister of Energy and Mines by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez. On 20th November 2004, under Presidential Decree 3264, he was gazetted President of Petróleos de Venezuela, a position which he holds concurrently with that of Minister of Energy and Petroleum. He is a mechanical engineer and graduated from the Los Andes University in 1989. He also holds an MSc in energy studies from the Central University of Venezuela.
