Director of Mexico’s state-run oil company resigns

The Associated Press

The director of Mexico’s state-run oil company resigned Nov. 1 and was replaced by the head of the company’s exploration and production unit, the Energy Department said.

Raul Munoz Leos stepped down as director of Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, after four years of trying to open the company to more private investment, a controversial campaign that drew widespread criticism as a first step toward privatization.

A statement sent out by the Energy Department didn’t specify why Munoz Leos stepped down, saying only the change was due to the “actual and perceived future circumstances of the company, and to renew the strength and drive needed for the company’s leadership in its final administrative phase.”

Pemex executives were not immediately available to comment.

The statement said Luis Ramirez, who has been head of Pemex’s exploration and production unit since 2001, will immediately take over as director.

It said Ramirez has “a strong knowledge of the company’s operations, plans and projects.”

Reforma newspaper reported Nov. 1 that Munoz Leos, former president and general manager of Dupont Mexico, was angry that President Vicente Fox’s Cabinet members had not fully supported him. The newspaper also reported in October that Munoz Leos borrowed company money to pay for his wife’s plastic surgery.

Munoz Leos has held his post for four years, and was appointed when Fox took office in 2000.

His resignation was the latest in a series of Cabinet shakeups within Fox’s four-year administration.

Former Energy Secretary Felipe Calderon resigned in May after Fox criticized him for an early jump into the 2006 presidential races. Calderon, a prominent figure in Fox’s National Action Party, said Fox’s complaints were “unjust and out of proportion.”

It wasn’t entirely clear why Munoz Leos stepped down, although he has often been criticized for efforts he said were aimed at modernizing Mexico’s oil monopoly, including streamlining staffing levels and trying to allow more private investment.

Pemex also has been criticized for the nearly $700 million contract it signed earlier this year with the oil workers union. The contract includes a variety of housing and other benefits.