This maneuver failed to end the strike, but it did attract the attention of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the target of the opposition-led oil lockdown.
That obscure manager was Félix Rodríguez, who within weeks of his major public appearance would begin to shoot up through the ranks of state oil giant Petróleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA. He became a corporate director, then vice president of exploration and production. Last month he was catapulted to the presidency of PDVSA's biggest subsidiary, Citgo.
The arrival of Rodríguez, whose style is more reminiscent of the boisterous Chavez than a typical top energy executive, puts a new face at the head of the huge Houston-based refining and marketing operation.
……………The nomination of Rodríguez as Citgo president also coincided with the arrival of several new board members, including Bernard Mommer, a German-born Marxist and behind-the-scenes architect of Chavez's oil policy.
Mommer helped create Venezuela's 2001 Hydrocarbons Law, which boosted royalty rates from 16.6 percent to 30 percent and requires a state majority in all upstream oil projects. Mommer has never trusted PDVSA or Citgo, viewing them as instruments to prevent revenue from reaching the nation. Venezuelan energy authorities in recent weeks confirmed they are in discussions with several corporations for the sale of certain Citgo properties. The announcement that PDVSA was considering such changes coincided with the appointment of Rodríguez at Citgo. In his 29-year career in the industry, Rodríguez has been almost entirely devoted to finding and producing oil. He has almost no experience in refining or financial administration. ……..
One option already on the table is to create a multiagency task force of a type usually reserved for critical issues. Others include campaigns to highlight allegations of graft in Chávez' government and persuade his Latin American neighbors to help rein him in, the officials added.
With Chávez appearing increasingly belligerent toward the Bush administration in recent months, ''a chain reaction has been started to review what are the options on Venezuela,'' said Miguel Diaz, with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. ………..***